Claudia Werneck Email & Phone Number

Inclusive communication - the basis of a participatory democracy - is my strength as a journalist, writer, entrepreneur and activist. In 2020, I was recognized by Ashoka Global as one of 200 entrepreneurs, from 90 countries, most active during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the theme: "accessible information is also the front line".I am a follower of how radically the human species manifests itself in its infinite diversity of bodies, whose differences (as well as inequalities, unfortunately) accentuate even more with social, cultural, economic inputs ... It is this expanded humanity that inspires me. I run away from the collective delusion that leads us to choose which diversities we will work with and defend, in an attempt to organize the unorganizable.I was born in Rio. My father and mother were teachers. He, historian; she, geographer. The smell of the mimeograph marked my childhood. From an early age, I became interested in communication. As a child, I wrote neighborhood newspapers with my father. In 1969, at the age of 11, when I saw on TV the first man stepping on the moon, I wrote a letter to the astronauts talking about my emotion and pride. Months later they answered me. It was unforgettable to open that NASA envelope! I had been in contact with the most important people on the planet. At that moment, the activist that I am today was born, with such a feeling of belonging.Since then, communication has become my guide. But it was only in 1991 that I decided to use it in the service of a cause: inclusion. As chief reporter for Pais & Filhos magazine (a magazine for parents), I wrote an article on Down syndrome and, as a result, received an award by the Brazilian Medical Association. Perplexed by the lack of information the society and the media have on the topic, I wrote the first book on Down syndrome for lay people in Brazil, "Muito Prazer, eu Existo". I received three thousand letters - which I replied by hand. From the impact of this book, in 1993, my husband and I created a social project and a publisher specialized in inclusion and accessible books: the WVA. From the private social investment of the WVA, the NGO Escola de Gente was born in 2002 - a national and international reference, awarded three times at the UN headquarters in Vienna as the "most innovative project in the world", and decorated by the Presidency of the Republic with the "Human Rights Award" and the "Order of Cultural Merit".I wrote 14 books on inclusion published in Portuguese, English and Spanish - I am the only Brazilian writer recommended by UNESCO and UNICEF.

Listed skills include Jornalismo, Direitos Humanos, Empreendedorismo Social, Desenvolvimento Inclusivo, and 2 others.