Carly's Café - Experience Autism Through Carly's Eyes

Carly Fleischmann has autism and cannot speak. She communicates with her family and the wider world using computers and tablets -- a skill she began to develop when she was 10, and for years, has been an advocate for autism awareness.

One of the 18-year-old's most creative communications, a 2012 short film called"Carly's Cafe," presents a typical coffee shop outing as the teenager herself would experience it: She can't express what she wants out loud -- be it a cup of coffee or the chance to spend her evening doing something without her sister -- and as the video progresses, spectators get a sense (briefly) of a world where basic interactions are beyond their control.

The film was released along with a complementary website that received a Silver Lion in the Cyber Lions category of the Cannes Lions Awards. It is based on an excerpt from the book the 18-year-old and her dad, Arthur Fleischmann, co-wrote. "Carly's Cafe" gained attention after its release and was shown at the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. It closes with Carly's message: "Everyone has an inner voice. I found a way to let mine out." What am amazing person to be able to do this. It gives people a different perspective with in inside look into Autism. 

I first found this article on the Autism Now FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/AutismNowCenter

To read more about Carly please visit her website at: http://carlysvoice.com/