His father, Jordi, reminds him of the motto of the Special Olympics: “Let me be brave in the attempt.” His son, Eloi Collell, nods on the other side of the screen. “All people with disabilities are capable of many things”Eloi adds.
Eloi is 37 years old and lives in Vic. He currently studies a digital skills course. “They teach me how to use the screens well, what we can say and what we cannot say on social networks. I’m studying to be an interviewer in the Catalan Foundation Down Syndrome. There I am in a digital newspaper and I make news and interviews. We are a team of several people. I have interviewed Raül Ballam, who is a chef son of a famous cook named Carme Ruscalleda, “says Eloi.
“I have also interviewed a person with disabilities who has written a book: Minerva Eating. They teach us to prepare the interviews with all the information we have. With that information we ask the questions. They also teach me to be myself and write “says Eloi.
Eloi is not new to interviewing. “I have been the first presenter with Down syndrome of a program in Catalonia.” The program was broadcast on TV3: Why do planes fly? ? “I am very curious and I like to ask and look for answers. I ask many things. I have interviewed many people. “Each program was dedicated to a question that Eloi was asked, which crossed the Catalan geography looking for answers consulting different experts in each of the issues. Other questions that were asked ELOI were why do we like to eat so much? Why does football move so many passions? What is art?
“To prepare an interview, the most basic is to inform you of what that person does in his life. Where he has studied, where he works. All this, the day’s day to day. I feel with a notebook and prepare the questions. I also have the monitor title with children “Eloi adds.
“It is very important to be an interviewer. It helps me to be myself and grow. It helps me to be concentrated, to listen and to look at how they do, “he says.
Today he remembers his experience as a presenter. He would love to return to TV, he says it was a brutal experience. One of the things he liked most is that he became a little famous. “People in my city recognized me on the streetI wondered if it was me and me, it is me. But I didn’t spoiler, I couldn’t. “
His mother laughs when he says about the spoiler. It interrupts a second to corroborate that it took very seriously to secretly carry what I recorded. Eloi was traveling in Catalonia and barely told his mother anything. “I’m very sorry, I can’t tell you anything, He told me. And I, but I’m your mother! And nothing, I had to see it later on television like everyone else, “Dolors recalls laughing.
“I explain one thing that cost me when I was doing the program. Carme Ruscalleda did not stop talking very fast and my colleagues recording. I got nervous and I had to tell my colleagues to stop because I was talking fast and I couldn’t answer, “Eloi recalls.
The most difficult thing in his presenter was learned by heart the questions he had to ask the interviewee, he still is clear: “I would like to work on journalism and also administrative assistant”account.
Eloi lives independent of his parents. “I have lived with students from the University of Vic and with European volunteers. Now I live with a person with disabilities. Everything is good but sometimes it is not easy and we discuss. We have a common schedule for floor tasks. We cook well, healthy and balanced. We have a girl who is dietitian and teaches us to eat with vegetables and fruits,” he explains.
I ask him whether to have Down syndrome it is more difficult for him to be a journalist and presenter. The reality is that we do not see people like him in the media. “It is slower to us. Society is not prepared. There are people who respect and there are no people. Society has to support us and not have prejudices, “he defends.
He has been working in a cleaning and maintenance for more than seventeen years. He would like to grow in his work, so he says he would like to be an administrative assistant. At the moment they have not given him the opportunity. His parents have explained that it is that work that allows him to live independent and do other things he likes how to work in the Digital newspaper of the Foundation. It also collaborates with Eurofirms Foundation. “It’s in Girona and it’s a company and foundation,” explains Eloi. “They help look for people with disabilities and I give talks on social networks. Motivation talks for companies to hire people with disabilities. That companies see that we are doing things well. That they see the talent and not only the physicist of the person. The important thing is talents. The talents are the good things we have and that sometimes people do not see. “
“Working is very important. If you don’t work we can’t live. Neither we have projects or future plans. If you want this, to work. Working and studying. “Eloi is clear that work is important but also leisure. He says he has many hobbies. He is in a group of Castell. Of human castles, he points out, and has been swimming since childhood.” I really liked the pool and water. It is good for the back, I have scoliosis. I have won medals in the Special Olympics. I also like to read and listen to music, “concludes Eloi.
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