Encontro com o Vice-Embaixador da Índia em Brasília

1. Encontro na Embaixada

Sobre 23/10/2023 às 4 da tarde, tivemos a sorte e a honra de conhecer ELE. o vice-embaixador da Índia em Brasília, Senhor B.C.. Pradhan, durante uma reunião que durou 1 hora e 45 minutos, no Embaixada da Índia em Brasília.

Ele aceitou corretamente a nossa proposta de uma reunião, e ele até fez isso rapidamente (menor que 12 horas depois de enviarmos para ele).

Inicialmente, a reunião foi um pouco difícil para nós porque foi um pouco intimidante, mas com diálogo verbal e no local, sempre conseguimos ‘quebrar o gelo’ e crie uma conexão real.
Então, pouco a pouco, a discussão ficou mais precisa, mais simpático e mais útil.

A Índia é um país muito importante, não só porque está a caminho de se tornar o mais populoso do mundo, mas também porque a Índia tem uma cultura de resistência firme, mas não violenta (Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru…), e de tolerância e abertura, pois esta reunião foi um exemplo de.

Este país também é caro aos corações das pessoas que tiveram a sorte de descobrir o seu “leve” autismo graças ao filme indiano “Meu nome é Khan“.

Entre outras coisas, Senhor B.C.. Pradhan se ofereceu para facilitar a comunicação com as autoridades relevantes na Índia, que foi o principal objectivo da nossa iniciativa.

De fato, quando entramos em contato com as autoridades de vários países do Brasil, e como uma organização de pessoas autistas, parece que em geral eles realmente não prestam atenção, provavelmente porque deve parecer-lhes algo “de outro mundo”.
Por isso precisamos ser capazes de conversar oralmente e cara a cara, e é exatamente para isso que as embaixadas são feitas.

No final da reunião, apreciamos muito os esforços do Vice-Embaixador para melhorar a capacidade de tirar fotos, mudando de local várias vezes e repetindo as sessões de fotos pelo menos 19 vezes, algo que não teríamos ousado pedir, mas que correspondeu perfeitamente aos nossos desejos.

É apenas um primeiro contato, mas é muito encorajador.
Isso mostra que algumas pessoas sérias estão nos levando a sério, fazendo um esforço para falar conosco, o que lhes permite verificar se o que estamos dizendo é realista ou não.

Nós escrevemos um breve relatório sobre a reunião, e Sr. B.C.. Pradhan nos escreveu para dizer que encontrou “realmente fascinante”.

Observação: Antes desta reunião, nós imprimimos, lemos e anotamos os vários textos oficiais (leis e outros) sobre deficiência e autismo na Índia.
Há muito a ser dito sobre isso, e voltaremos a isso mais tarde, assim que estabelecermos uma ligação com as autoridades da capital da Índia.
Enquanto isso, estaremos postando links para esses textos na seção “Autismo na Índia” (atualmente em construção).

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2. Nosso relatório sobre a reunião

Aqui está o nosso texto:

Sobre 23/10/2023, tivemos a honra e a sorte de sermos recebidos pelo Sr.. AC. Pradhan, Vice-Embaixador da Índia no Brasil.

Ele tem sido muito gentil, atencioso, disponível, paciente, aberto e atento.

Os principais pontos do encontro:

A- Por parte da nossa Organização

A1- First of all, it is essential to understand the difference between “autism” and “the troubles or disorders characterizing autism”, without which it is difficult or impossible to talk about autism without getting lost in absurd confusions and paradoxes, which unfortunately is what happens almost all the time.

A2- The crucial importance of the notion of accessibility for autistic people, unfortunately misunderstood or ignored.

A3- The notion of what we call “socio-generated harmful hits (or disturbances)” (sensory, mental or other).

A4- The fact that autism can be compared, in our view, to a kind of self-protection of natural harmony, and the central importance of the notion of harmony and coherence in understanding autism and in reducing those harmful hits and hence the suffering.

A5- The quote by the Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, which could almost sum up our approach: “It is no measure of [good mental] health to be [well] adjusted to a profoundly sick society“.

A6- The qualities of autism (and some examples of achievements in our Embassy).

A7- The things that need to be done to ensure accessibility for autistic people are not extravagant, and do not harm non-autistic people: on the contrary, they benefit them, starting with the most vulnerable, such as the elderly.
It is simply a matter of correcting the errors, excesses and absurdities of the “normal system”, which are detrimental to everyone.

A8- When they simply “silence” autistic people (for example, in the event of crises, which are inevitable given the lack of accessibility and therefore the omnipresence of the “harmful hits (or disturbances)”), without seeking to understand the underlying causes, this is like turning off the lights or sirens of an alarm system without investigating the underlying source.
Indeed, we (the autistic people) are very, very sensitive to problems and errors and absurdities etc., so we are like “revelators” or early warning systems useful for society to correct itself, and we see alas every day a little more how necessary this is (destruction and evil getting worse and worse, created by a “lost system”).

A9- It is essential not to address “autism” with a “defectological approach”, but without denying the existence of “troubles” (cf. fundamental distinction to be made between the two, see A1).
Examples with anecdotes from Kazakhstan, in particular the dazzling success with young Tima (video evidence on Autistan.kz).

A10- If we had to keep just one word when it comes to autism, it would be “try” or “experiment” (as many different and new things as possible).
And that is precisely what Mr Pradhan did with us, which is very much appreciated, given that autism and our project do not really fall into the remit of his Embassy.
On the other hand, it has to be understood that anyway there is nothing planned for autistic people (apart from defectological and “formatting” things) in a society “planned by itself for itself”, there is no space, no possibilities, so we have to try various things, more or less at random, we have to knock on all sorts of doors, in order to try and advance the positive approach to autism, which is absolutely necessary.

A11- It is possible for our Organization to provide really useful information, even without necessarily being administratively registered in such and such a country (with supporting examples, such as the letter from Mr. Shekhar Saxena, then WHO Director of Mental Health – who is also an Indian, by the way).

A12- The main aim of our Organization is to dialogue with public authorities in countries, to offer them information to help them better understand autism, and thus reduce misunderstandings and confusion, which in turn helps to improve public policies.

A13- We can also help reduce conflicts with the local or national associations.

A14- Through face-to-face exchanges here in Brasilia, embassies can help initiate connections with the public authorities in their countries concerned with autism.
Indeed, when we contact them ourselves from afar, they very rarely respond because it is probably too abstract / distant / unusual for them (in other words, the “human link” is missing).

A15- For a country as large as India, the relevance of the idea of a special service to use the analyses of highly gifted people (including some autistic people) to solve really serious and delicate problems. With 1 billion inhabitants, it must be possible to find enough “super-brains”.

B- The main points of the Deputy Ambassador

B1- He advises us to contact CEBRI, an international relations think tank, in the perspective of the G20, whose presidency will be held by Brazil, and which starts soon.
CEBRI is actually based in Rio de Janeiro.
It sounds like a really useful piece of advice, and we are going to do our best to approach this organization and try to convince it of the relevance of our information and, if possible, of our participation.
It is a good example of how useful it is to talk to embassies, because without that, we would not have come up with this idea.
(Edit of 10/12/2023 : CEBRI seems to be rather economically oriented, and we looked at all their publications, but they only contained the word ‘social’ once, and only in the title.
On the other hand, that advice did enable us to learn about the C20 concept, which is not about ‘Think tanks’ (T20) but about Civil society, including the question of minorities and disability.
So we are trying to get responses from various people and organisations to try and participate.)

B2- He proposes to facilitate contact with the relevant public institutions in India if we visit the country, which seems impossible at the moment due to lack of resources, but we assume that this provision may also be useful when attempting dialogue from afar.

B3- In discussions relating to natural and spiritual and calming things, we mentioned the “Gayatri mantra“, and he spoke of various things including in particular “Iskand”(?) (to investigate).

B4- Having listened with interest to the explanations of Eric L. about the Indian film “My name is Khan” (which he knows, which helps a lot), about the tremendous revelation (of autism) made possible by this film, and about the attempts to leave a note for the actor Sha Rukh Khan during a visit to Mumbai, Mr. Pradhan very kindly offers to intervene so that we can meet him during a visit to India. This very interesting proposal could probably be used for a letter (with a reply). To be explored.

B5- Finally, in view of our difficulties in getting an appointment with the National Secretariat for the Rights of Disabled People of Brazil, and given the date of our first letter to them (22 days earlier), he suggests sending them a respectful reminder.
We took the opportunity to point out the problems of incommunicability with easily offended administrations, particularly in France, which leads to important considerations on the notion of humility and “putting egos in the background”, qualities very present in Brazil, but also in India, clearly.
(Speaking of humility, Mr Pradhan even went so far as to thank us in writing “for having used our precious time” for him, when in fact it was quite the opposite!
A fine lesson in diplomacy, to be remembered).

B6- He concludes by saying how much he enjoyed the discussion, and for having learned new things.

C- Conclusion

Mr. B.C. Pradhan listened attentively and he took all the time necessary (two things that are really essential to be accessible to autistic people).

3. Message of the Deputy Ambassador, who found our report “really fascinating”