Kareen María Gudiel Zelada

Kareen is the mother of two young men, the younger of which is a person with autism. She is founder and president of Asociación Guatemalteca por el Autismo (AGUA) and co-founder and board member of Autismo Latinoamérica Federación (ALAFE).

She is also a leader of Ministerio Escúchame from Iglesia Vida Real, serving people with disabilities and their families, and a board member of World Orphan Fund Guatemala. She was a former member of the Coordination Group of Plataforma Nacional de Organizaciones de y para Personas con Discapacidad, driving initiatives and lobbying to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities in Guatemala.

A trained Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) Consultant, she studied Psychology with a specific focus on interventions for autism and neurodevelopmental disorders.