Marie Bardot, who defends the cause of autistic people, has just received the Legion of Honor.
Marie Bardot, who defends the cause of autism through the Diamant Association that she chairs, has just received the Knight’s Cross in the national order of the Legion of Honor from Jean-Luc Moudenc, mayor of Toulouse , and president of Toulouse Métropole, who has supported it for many years.
The presentation of this distinction which had been awarded to him on July 14, 2019, took place on Friday in the Salle des Illustres du Capitole in Toulouse in the presence in particular of Colonel Jean Honnorat president of the Society of Members of the Legion of Honor de Haute-Garonne, and his Tarn-et-Garonne counterpart, Lieutenant-Colonel Philippe Bon, members of the Society for the Encouragement of Good, Karine Vigneau deputy mayor of Grisolles and Brigitte Barèges former mayor of Montauban. In his speech, the mayor of Toulouse highlighted an exceptional life whose key words are: mutual aid, solidarity and self-giving. A life crowned with sixty associative, national and international distinctions, including the Humanitarian Grand Prix of France in 2017 at Unesco.
Lilly to life
After having been project manager at Social Security, then professor of French and English in National Education in 1991, Marie Bardot discovered in 1995 her gifts as a therapist-energetician, magnetizer and medium. It will be a turning point in her life that she will devote to relieving others. The birth in 1997 of her daughter Lily, autistic, will be a test from which she will be able to draw strength and will. At that time nobody knew how to manage autism, and Marie had to undergo Lily’s school dropout followed by her psychiatric internment. The rejection and discrimination to which is added the loss of her job are experienced as an injustice of great violence, as is the placement of Lily in IME (Institute (medical-educational from which she will be able to extract it in 2012.) takes care of her daughter on a daily basis.
Marie Bardot with Lilly and Brigitte Barèges.
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This painful journey made Marie want to fight, so in 2003 she founded the Diamant association in order to facilitate their integration into our midst. “They deserve it and they are entitled to it.” She then multiplies actions to improve the lot of autistic people. She appealed to the various governments with 87 letters and a petition collected 12,000 signatures. Thanks to this “positive harassment” four government plans, autistic people could be better treated, better received and better respected. But much remains to be done.
Painter (exhibitions in New York, Japan ..), singer-songwriter under the name of Sunbird (1st angel’s kiss album “in 2010), she puts all her talents at the service of this cause: exhibitions, concerts, conference … If the covid had not intervened, a musical “Gold and Autism” whose rehearsals had started, would have seen the light of day.
After the creation of 13 educational workshops for autistic people, she has a “Sunlily Love” project where autistic people will be able to experience several professions while being in the midst of others. There is no doubt that this decoration will encourage him in his perpetual fight.
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