January 24, 2000
Contact: Ranjit Arab, University Relations, (785) 864-8855.
LAWRENCE - It's no wonder that Liliana Mayo received the Queen Sofia Award - Spain's highest honor - last week for her humanitarian efforts. In 1979, Mayo cleared out her parents' garage in Lima, Peru, and created a school to teach eight poverty-stricken children with autism or severe mental retardation.
>From those humble beginnings, she has expanded the school - now called the Ann Sullivan Center after Helen Keller's teacher - to teach some 200 children with severe developmental disabilities how to function independently in society.
And somehow, this psychologist by trade also managed to earn two postgraduate degrees in human development from the University of Kansas. More importantly, while at KU she met several people through the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies who have helped her develop and expand her special school.
The Ann Sullivan Center in Lima, Peru, now sits on land donated by the Peruvian government and attracts the help of psychologists, teachers, physicians and professors from all over the world. Still, Mayo says the school could not have flourished without the help of her KU colleagues. Each year, the Life Span Institute coordinates trips to the center, sending between 10 to 15 professors there to help Mayo and her staff.
One professor who has made the trip each year for the last 15 years is Judith LeBlanc, professor emerita in human development and family life at KU. LeBlanc acts as a consultant to the center and she even accompanied Mayo to Madrid, Spain, for the award presentation ceremony Jan. 20. Along with the award, Mayo also will receive the equivalent of $32,000.
"The credit for receiving this award goes in part to Dr. Judith LeBlanc and the University of Kansas," Mayo said. "Her trips here since 1985 taught us state-of-the-art techniques in education. The center is going to receive the award, but it is the work of a team."
Stephen Schroeder, director of the Life Span Institute at KU, said the prestigious Queen Sofia Award, which is presented by the queen herself, is equivalent to the Nobel Prize among Spanish-speaking countries. Schroeder said he was impressed with the work that Mayo has done, and proud that KU and the Life Span Institute remained an influential sponsor for the center over the years.
Mayo, meanwhile, said she would continue to try to expand the center. There still are plenty of children in Peru who do not receive the attention they need, she said.
Still, Mayo said she is proud of the fact that the center currently has some 40 students with severe disabilities who are working and supporting their families.
"I think what is amazing is that with very little money, we have made a first-class program in a third-world country with fourth-rate salaries," Mayo said.