Princess Marie as Patron of the National Association for Autism


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Thanks, Iceflower.

Judging from the pics it seems that our Marie has a good rapport with autists and is at ease among them, so they are at ease with her as well.

IIRC she has a close relative who is autist?
 
Summary of article in Billed Bladet #15, 2014.
Written by Henrik Salling.

As you now Marie is patron of the Autism Association and in that capacity she took part in a one kilometre run to celebrate the International Autism Day.
She ran with 34 autists and 20 paedagogues in the town of Taastrup.
To reassure the autists the route had been walked through to familiarize them not least with the road and railway crossings along the route.
Other autist joined in later, some of which had run almost a marathon, so presumably were running with the more severe cases or those who are simply not used to running.

When Marie arrived she was naturally met by the mandatory flower girl, in the shape of Danella. She had beens asked if she would present flowers to the Princess, but had misunderstood something, she thought the flowers were for her.
The situation was resolved by giving the girl a bouguet of flowers almost as pretty as the one our Marie got.
After having completed to run getting something to drink, Marie was shown some music instruments which have proven to be of big benefit for autists.
And she mingled with people, many of whom asked if the could pose for a selfie with her, which Marie obliged to do.

Afterwards Marie confessed: "I actually don't run so much. - It was nice to run with the children. I think they did well all of them".
 
I just feel sorry that princess Marie trip to NY doesn't have so much cover!
 
Thanks, Iceflower :flowers:

Nice detail with one of the residents having named his guineapig Marie. :lol:
 
And more on the guineapig.

Summary of short article in Billed Bladet #42, 2014.
Written by Ken Richter.

As you can tell from the galleries posted above, our Marie recently inaugurated a home for senior citizens with autism There are other homes for people with autism, but some of those who have diagnosed with autism have now become elderly and a home for them was not available.
In fact it's a part of a kind of commune with four small apartments for the senior autists.

Okay, Marie cut the obligatory red ribbon and gave a little speech: "Autism is a handicap you are born with, and which you must live with for the rest of the life. It's nice that there is now focus on elderly autists who need support all their lives".

Among them was 62, Torben Knudsen, who has lived in a home in the local area for 32 years, before moving in in this new apartment. He was chosen to show Marie his apartment which was duly admired by Marie, but it was mostly his guineapig Marie, who wanted to show Marie. And it was here it was obvious that Marie has experience in dealing with people with autism. She caressed the animal and asked: "May it come out or is that forbidden"?
Fortunately it wasn't and Torben could reassure Marie (the Princess): "Marie won't hurt anyone".

On her lapel Marie wore the logo of the Autism Association.
 
.

Yesterday, November 19, Princess Marie as Patron of the National Association for Autism attended a project meeting in Bagsvaerd:



** royalista.com article **
 
Thanks, Iceflower. :)

A BB video of our Marie at the Autism conference. VIDEO: BILLED-BLADET interviewer prinsesse Marie om autisme | Billed Bladet
As you can hear she gave her speech in English.

After the conference she is interviewed by Henrik Salling who has covered her from the very beginning.

She tells him how good it is to have international researchers discussing autism and the topic is "what is a good life for someone with autism". And Marie explains that it is very difficult to say because people with autism are so very different. (Presumably also because it's difficult to comprehend the world of someone with autism and it's just as difficult for someone with autism to define let alone explain what a good life is)
 
Muhler-Do you believe she gave this speech in English because it was to an international audience?
 
:previous: Yes, I believe so.
 
i think marie looked great, her smile is rather lovely and welcoming.
 
Thanks, Iceflower :flowers:

Summary of article in Billed Bladet #19, 2015.
Written by Henrik Salling.

Yes, our Marie went to the city of Odense recently where she took part in a meeting at SDU Southern Danish University. The aim being to attract students and come up with ideas to make the university more attractive internationally. This was the fourth meeting Marie had attended and the dean of the university, Henrik Dam, aid about her: "It has been very profitable to have the Princess in our working team. She has a general knowledge about being a student in a foreign country and we have benefited from from that.
The work (which is now concluded BTW) should result in recommendations and the Princess has been very dedicated in her work".

After that meeting Mary went to Odense downtown, where she attended a conference about autism, SIKON15. One of the most prominent speakers was the American author Jennifer O'Tool, who herself has autism, and so has her husband and their three children. Her speech was very much about the practical challenges such a family faces. Marie got a signed book by the author.
 
i bet marie would offer helpful insights into how to make the university more international, having a very international background herself.
 
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A BB video of our Marie visiting the school for children with autism:
Prinsesse Marie i rørende møde med autismebørn | billedbladet.dk

I'll return later to what she actually said.

0:12 - Someone shouts: "It's a pleasure to meet you (informal you)".
Marie responds: "Thank you, likewise".

0:23 - Q: What has been the biggest experience for you (formal you) here today?
M: "It's been to see the grand facilities. Eh, it's good to see the architecture takes in to consideration the needs of the pupils for calm surroundings and surroundings they can manage. They can be very stressed and become afraid/fearful so it's a really good project".
Q: How did the visit in the younger classes go?
M: "That went really well. They are so accomplished. They have so many... Yes, they were so accomplished in drawing, speaking English and...".

Giving a speech: "Here you can truly say that the ceiling is high (idiom = there is room and tolerance for most). All children are special but it's not all children who need special surroundings/boundaries/structure. Those who do are fortunate if they attend Langeragerskolen (this school). Thank you".

Interview afterwards.
Q: May I ask how Prince Henrik is doing in his school?
M: (Exclaiming) "Oh, it's going really well".
Q: Is he still fond of it?
M: "Yes, of course. Yes. it's going really well. Yes. Thank you".

Marie is walking behind the car, waving and saying "Hej = hi = informal greeting".

A slight accent, but very easy to understand. Correct choice of words, no grammatical errors, only a slightly funny intonation from time to time and sometimes pausing where a native normally wouldn't pause when saying something but just go ahead at full speed.
 
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A warm little video from BB of Marie attending an autism conference in the town of Herning.
VIDEO: Prinsesse Marie fik nyt halssmykke | BILLED-BLADET

Here she learned and talked about a project called Fakta, which is about employing people with autism in (typically small) businesses.
And upon giving her speech our Marie was presented with a piece of jewellery by an autist who works as an intern at a goldsmith. That's what we see in the very beginning of the video. It's the young man to the left.
The butterfly is made from gold, silver and enamel.
- I noticed how Marie expressed her gratitude in a sincere (and with informal you) but fairly subdued way.

At the end Marie praised the project.

- I think it's great too and some companies actually look for people with autism, because they are able to stay totally focused on particular jobs all the time. Where "normal" people may lose concentration or in some cases find it too tedious.
 
Prinsesse Marie skal til Færøerne | BILLED-BLADET

BB writes that our Marie is going to the Faeroe Islands in the beginning of March as patron of the Autism Association.

This will be her first visit to the islands.

- The low population combined with the isolation of the islands and the fact that half the population live scattered over a number of islands of which some at times can be cut off for several days, means that the problems in handling a person with autism can be more difficult.
 
wow - i can't believe it's the first time marie visits the islands. however, i believe that frederik and mary only visited once, so maybe the faroe are not as popular a destination as greenland for example?
 
:previous: yeah I think Frederik and Mary did an official visit in 2005.
I dont remember when Joachim has gone.
Its usually the Queen and Henrik who have done summer cruises there. The Queen will be heading there this summer. :flowers:

It will be nice to see Marie's agenda for the visit. Hopefully she gets to tour around
 
I look forward to this trip as well.

The Faeroe Islands is a photographers wet dream!

If our Marie at some point wear a national costume thee will be something for the fashionistas as well.
 
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:previous: Would love to see Marie in the national costume :flowers:
 
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