A beautiful letter I just received . . . Brian, In September 1993, my son Felipe had received the diagnosis that he was autistic. You have to remember that at that time the internet was only starting. The information that you could get was from magazines, books and by word of mouth. We started to search for as much information as possible about autism. Someone informed me about Susan Moreno and the MAAP. In 1994 I participated in my first MAAP conference. I had the honor to meet Susan Moreno and Dr. Cathy Pratt. This conference gave our family hope and I had the opportunity to develop a very good relationship with Susan. Since I participated in that conference, I had the dream of organizing a conference in Medellin, Colombia. Since 2000, the fundacionintegrar.org has been participating in the organization of a Cognitive Disability Conference and next year we will have our 6th Conference. However, we decided this year to organize in Medellin, our first Autism Conference. Susan recommended me to invite you and she recommended you highly as an extraordinary speaker. You arrived to Colombia on August 23 2013 and we spent a week together. During this time I had the opportunity to hear your presentations in Medellin and Bogota and I learned from them very much. However, I also had the opportunity to be with you during one week and I had the privilege to develop a strong friendship with you and to know much more about you and your family. The story of your live is a remarkable story of resilience. I learned from you that you had been be knocked down by life and you have been able to come back stronger than ever. Rather than letting failure overcome you and drain your resolve, you have always found a way to rise from the ashes. I learned from you that you always have a positive attitude and optimism. You have tough yourself that failure is a form of helpful feedback and you have been able to change the course whenever you face a challenge in your life. Finally, I admire that you never made a negative comment on anybody. You and your family have faced many problems in your life. However, instead of having negative comments, you always talk and write with optimism. This is an inspiration to those who have come to know you. I thank you for coming to Colombia and hope that you come in the future to be able to continue to learn from you. Regards, ANDRES FELIP MEJIA C.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 20:29:50 +0000