Domestic Life: Berenice Piana

"When a child is born with autism, the impact of it on a family depends on the family context and how these people were educated about differences between human beings and disabilities. I chose to fight and bring a minimum of dignity to these families, when they didn't even have an institutionalized law to guarantee their rights. It is necessary to feel and understand the reality of millions of people who do not "fit" the standards imposed by a selfish and silent society.

Each day we must choose to get up and think: how can I be useful to my fellow human peers in this world in which I’m living? I choose to exist as an activist and serve for a purpose, whatever the context in which I am."

Berenice Piana is a Brazilian activist, co-author of the constitutional right number 12.764, enacted on December 28, 2012, which bears her name: the Berenice Piana act. It is the first law in Brazil which instituted the National Policy for the Protection of the Rights of People with Autism Spectrum Disorders. This law recognizes autism as a disability, extending to autistic people, for legal purposes, all the rights provided for people with some type of disability. Berenice is the mother of three children, the youngest being in the autistic spectrum. Her experience motivated her to fight in defense of people with this spectrum. As a result, she founder the first School for Young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Brazil established in Itaboraí, Rio de Janeiro, in April 2014.