Mr Felipe Hees (Sherpa from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil / Under-Sherpa for the G20 2024) showing the Flag of Autistan, and a representative of the’Autistan Diplomatic Organization – Objective of anonymization measures: among other reasons, try to discourage any inclination or hope of “ shiny autism » as part of our organization.
The 03/07/2024, we were lucky enough to finally obtain a diplomatic dialogue with a member of the Brazilian Government, Mr Felipe Hees, who is a diplomat representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil within the framework of the G20 2024.
It is often presented under the title “Minister Felipe Hees“.
You can see below (and in other photos here in the article on our participation in the C20/G20) that this person is among the three main Brazilian organizers coordinating the G20 meetings and summit.
This dialogue was brief because it was unforeseen, but rather informative and reassuring, as you will see.
Regarding autism, to overcome the many obstacles, it is necessary to make as many experiments and very varied attempts as possible, and there is a “magic word” : the word “to try”.
Like with lotteries, if we don't try, we have no chance of success, it is certain to 100%, and unfortunately this is what most parents and autistic people do, which explains their stagnation, Alas.
When you don't want to change anything, try nothing new, so we should not be surprised if the situations do not evolve.
Once we understand that we must not be afraid to ‘take the bull by the horns’, then it becomes possible to do almost anything you want.
Being particularly convinced of this principle, so we *tried* to overcome the seemingly very high and quite intimidating barrier, who separated us from a man too “important and busy”.
Accessories are often useful, et – quite improvised – we used the flag of Autistan to approach this character between two meetings, at a time when he was not asked by anyone (which was quite difficult to find), and telling him that he is a diplomat and therefore he knows many countries and flags, but probably not this one.
He replied very kindly that indeed he did not know him., then we obviously explained that it is the “land of autistic people”, by summarizing the concept and its main purpose (inform public authorities in countries so that they better understand the difficulties and needs of autistic people, in order to create or improve the necessary public policies).
This gentleman was particularly open, kind, friendly and considerate (for example to rush to pick up something from the ground), thus demonstrating behavior that is truly the antithesis of the arrogance and self-importance of certain “important people” in other countries (especially in Europe).
This kind and respectful behavior is also a very common thing in Brazil., much appreciated, and which ultimately makes a very big difference and makes many things possible.
What's more, he spoke the French language perfectly, without the slightest foreign accent, which certainly made things a lot easier, in our attempt to expose the essential without abusing our time, because we could speak quickly and precisely.
We began by cautiously saying that it was surprising and a shame that for an important and large country like Brazil, populated by 210 million inhabitants, there is no specialized public body in charge of autism at the national level.
We said that even in France, which is a country which is nevertheless very open to criticism in terms of correctly taking autism into account, such an entity has existed for at least 10 ans, and we gave some details because we know her well, specifying that this body now includes approximately 7 people.
Felipe Hees could only nod (and probably start to realize that we know our subjects).
Then we explained, quite diplomatically, the significant difficulties we encounter in finally establishing a dialogue (a real, useful and lasting constructive dialogue) with public bodies in Brazil, especially those theoretically affected by autism, despite our various attempts, strengthened for two years.
We suggested that perhaps he could “give a little help” to ensure that certain public bodies pay us a little more attention, in order to be able to make a “connexion”.
Because the problem is that when the dialogue is too distant or too superficial, it is not possible to go into details, arguments, examples and evidence allowing interlocutors to truly understand that what we are proposing is not just a concept “cool” with a nice flag, but something truly serious and useful.
For now in Brazil, the reactions we get stay within the bounds of praise and politeness or kindness, but without real attention, as if it were unimaginable that autistic people could really bring specific things, concrete and useful for improving public policies in the area.
At our suggestion to perhaps help us a little to build a bridge or create the “missing link”, Mr Hees had no reaction, behavior that, in the world of diplomacy, probably means that such a proposal is not really feasible on his part, or at least that he has no immediate answer.
And it is true that discussions relating to national public policies regarding autism have nothing in common with international policy issues., a priori.
However, he told us that he found it interesting to know about our existence, and if necessary in the future, he can talk about it (to colleagues or other government entities, supposedly).
Given that he spoke French and there was not the slightest obstacle or discomfort in the conversation, relaxed and certainly sincere, we have carefully clarified that our point is not “requests” more, on the contrary, suggestions to help.
Since the tone of the conversation was relaxed and friendly (what can be guessed from the photo), to summarize the difficulties of dialogue with public authorities, we mentioned the term “Bureaucratistan” as opposed to Autistan, which is very explicit, and M. Hees nodded smiling (whereas in other countries people could have been offended by taking it personally).
To avoid any risk, we immediately reminded that this problem exists in all countries, not only in Brazil.
Ensuite, we mentioned, as briefly as possible, the fact that there are really a lot of misunderstandings in the field of autism, and that we do not pretend that there are no problems related to autism. This seems obvious, but certain movement positions like that of neuro-diversity confuse the issue a little.
He said yes of course there are problems., and as an example of misunderstanding, we cited very briefly the fact that, according to us, It is imperative to make a distinction between “autism” (as different nature), et “autism disorders” (which are, In summary, the problematic aspects).
While almost everyone confuses the two, and it is really very difficult to understand the difference, Felipe Hees immediately understood.
We used the comparison with a walnut (people see “autism” like just a nut “unbreakable” and therefore inedible, while we must understand that the nut is composed of defects or protection (the coke), and the good sides (the brain, what is nourishing – and tasty).
But with each of our comments there was no need to go into details because this gentleman seemed to understand everything instantly.. Which probably explains his position.
Given that this discussion took place between two rooms, that is to say between two of the meetings that he co-led, we didn't want to take up more of his time, even though he showed no signs of impatience or discomfort.
At the end, encouraged by this good atmosphere, the representative of the’Autistan Diplomatic Organization had the idea of asking Mr. Felipe Hees if he would accept a photo (and it must be emphasized that all this was really improvised, unprepared).
He immediately accepted with a smile., and he even offered to pose with him in the photo, something that hadn't even occurred to us.
Then we took leave of this charming man who was particularly gifted in understanding, even subtle subjects that are not in his domain.
This episode may seem quite anecdotal, but thinking about it, it is far from being superficial or unnecessary.
Indeed, this shows us that the Brazilian public authorities are not so inaccessible, but above all, this confirms the validity of our approach based on the concept of “Parallel Diplomacy“.
Selon ChatGPT:
“Parallel diplomacy refers to informal, unofficial channels of communication and negotiation that operate alongside formal diplomatic efforts carried out by governments. It involves non-governmental actors engaging in dialogues and problem-solving efforts to address conflicts or build trust between nations.
The Diplomatic Organization of Autistan (ODA) is an entity representing the interests of the autism community worldwide. She practices parallel diplomacy by advocating for the rights and inclusion of autistic people through dialogue with governments, international organizations and other stakeholders. ODA promotes understanding, acceptance and accommodation of autistic people within society through non-traditional diplomatic channels, thereby contributing to global efforts towards inclusiveness and diversity on the international stage.”
That is to say we act as if we were a foreign country, or at least we act as an organization (NGO) foreign, in all countries.
So it is understandable that when we approach the Ministries of this or that country, they can be quite disconcerted because they are used to only interacting with entities from their country, and not with foreign organizations that, in addition, are organizations “of autistic people who speak”, and who also offer to help them (all this must seem a little to them “like from another planet”), whereas generally it is rather the opposite : Ministries dialogue with parent organizations, who ask for help.
This is probably why direct dialogue with Ministries is so difficult..
This brief meeting therefore reinforces our plan to concentrate our efforts on the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Embassies., which so far has gone pretty well (For example with India et with Nepal).
The idea that emerges from all this is that diplomats are used to interacting with people from very different cultures., and therefore they are more flexible and less easily thrown off course, or even not at all, whatever the subject.
It must be remembered here that “Being autistic, it’s a bit like being “a foreigner all the time” (even in your own country)“.
While people from ministries do “what they have to do”, and do not know how to handle proposals that are too far from “what is planned”.
Nowadays, unfortunately we live in a world where what has not already been planned (by someone else) has become almost impossible. And this problem is stronger in large countries, where the weight of bureaucracy is heavier.
In Conclusion, we believe that it would be useful and probably fruitful to try to dialogue with these services and people “accustomed to strangers”, in the hope that they can make the link with the national authorities directly concerned, like the public bodies in charge of disability.
The idea is to have at least a one to two hour discussion with someone from a Ministry of Foreign Affairs., especially in Brazil, so that this person, even if she is not at all specialized in autism, understand the importance, the relevance and great usefulness of our explanations and information.
In this way, she could then contact the authorities directly concerned, to ask them to give us enough attention, so that we can finally, for real, start useful and lasting dialogues in the interest of autistic people and their families.
We, we know very well that we can provide this useful precise information (and we have proof or convincing examples), but these authorities do not know it and do not suspect it. Even when we politely and patiently insist, this is not enough.
The Ministries of Foreign Affairs could therefore play a role of “mediator”, which corresponds more or less to their function, and what is, exactly, is a necessary thing in the presence of autism.
Luckily, we learned in a meeting the day before that Brazil has acquired, in each Ministry, services dedicated to social participation and diversity.
And it is Monsieur Fabricio Prado, the head of this service for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who explained this.
He gave us his card, we sent a brief email and it received a very quick response expressing interest.
We are going to prepare a letter for the attention of this service which seems particularly encouraging, in the hope of finally creating a bridge “who touches both ends” between Autistan and public bodies concerned with autism in Brazil.