Ivan Corea established autism-related charities, service organisations such as the

Autism Awareness Campaign UK The Autism Awareness Campaign – United Kingdom was launched in 2000 by British parents and carers Ivan Corea and his wife Charika Corea in response to the autism diagnosis of their son, Charin. Objectives According to their website, Autism Awa ...

and

Autism Sunday Autism Sunday, also known as the International Day of Prayer for Autism and Asperger Syndrome, is an event observed annually on the second Sunday of February. History Autism Sunday was first held in 2002 during Autism Awareness Year in the Unit ...

. He took a lead role in raising awareness about autism.

Education

Corea was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka and educated at S Thomas’ Preparatory School Kollupitiya and S. Thomas' College Mt Lavinia. His classmates included Uthum Herat, Suresh Thambipillai and R. D. Gunaratne. Corea's family emigrated to United Kingdom, and he attended Chalfonts County Secondary School in Chalfont, St. Peter's Buckinghamshire and Archbishop Tenison's Grammar School in Croydon. He went on to attend colleges attached to Brunel University and Greenwich University.

Autism

Corea has received many awards for his work in autism, including the Charity Times Charity Personality of the Year Award, the Windrush Community Service Award, the BBC TV Community Award (runner-up), the ''Asian Woman Magazine'' Community Award, the Beacon Fellowship Highly Commended Award and the ''Daily Mail'' Unsung Heroes Award Certificate. He has been honoured as an'Autism Light,' honouring heroes who have campaigned for autism by a website in the United States of America He has a record of over 25 years of service as an educator and is a former Fellow of the

King's Fund The King's Fund is an independent think tank, which is involved with work relating to the health system in England. It organises conferences and other events. Since 1997, they have jointly funded a yearly award system with GlaxoSmithKline. Th ...

in London. He has advised Her Majesty's Government as a Consultant to the Ethnic Minorities Division of the

Department for Work and Pensions The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for welfare spending, welfare, pensions and child maintenance ...

and a Task force of Ministers.

Journalism

Corea's work includes contributions to the Third World Impact books, published in the United Kingdom, the Visible Minority Report, presented to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

. In 1981 he was nominated for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Media Peace Prize in London.

London 2012 Ambassador

Corea was appointed an Olympic Ambassador by Lord Sebastian Coe in 2004 and was fully involved in persuading the public, particularly minority ethnic communities and disability communities in the United Kingdom, to back the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic bid.

Family

Corea and his wife Charika were inspired to initiate their autism awareness campaign by their son Charin, who is autistic. Corea is the son of

Vernon Corea Vernon Corea (11 September 1927 – 23 September 2002) was a pioneer radio broadcaster with 45 years of public service broadcasting both in Sri Lanka and the UK. He joined Radio Ceylon, South Asia's oldest radio station, in 1956 and later the S ...

, a well-known broadcaster who worked at

Radio Ceylon Radio Ceylon ( ''Lanka Guwan Viduli Sevaya'', , ''ilankai vanoli'') is a radio station based in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and the first radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis by the colonial Telegraph Departme ...

(SLBC), Radio Worldwide and the

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

. He is the grandson of clergyman

Ivan Corea Hector Vernon Ivan Seneviratne Corea (Sinhala language, Sinhala: හෙක්ටර් වර්නන් අයිවන් සෙනෙවිරත්න කොරයා) was a priest of the Church of Ceylon. Early life Ivan Corea was bor ...

who was Rural Dean of

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

, of the

Church of Ceylon The Church of Ceylon () is the Anglican Church in Sri Lanka. It is an extraprovincial jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who serves as its Metropolitan bishop, Metropolitan. It was established in 1845 with the appointment of the fir ...

and was Examining Chaplain to the

Bishop of Colombo Bishop of Colombo may refer to: * Anglican Bishop of Colombo The Anglican Bishop of Colombo is the ecclesiastical head of the Anglican Diocese of Colombo, a diocese in the Church of Ceylon which is part of the Anglican Communion. The Anglican ...

, the nephew of Ambassador

Ernest Corea Ernest Corea (1932–11 May 2017) was a Sri Lankan journalist and a diplomat noted for his work to maintain a free and independent press and for negotiations involving Sri Lanka's development programs. Early life Corea was born in 1932 to Rev ...

, who was his father's younger brother, and the great-grandson of Dr.

James Alfred Ernest Corea James Alfred Ernest Corea was a Sri Lankan public official. He was born in 1870. His father was Charles Edward Bandaranaike Corea who was a Proctor of the Supreme Court. His mother was Henrietta Seneviratne. J.A.E Corea's father died in 1872 ...

. In 2016 the family moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

to follow a theology course.

References

Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia Autism in the United Kingdom British people Living people Sri Lankan disability rights activists Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) {{autism-stub