Breathe
By Barbara Anderson
Talk to your children about children like Lucca, like my son.
School starts today across the country and this is an exciting time for most but nerve-wracking for a mom like me of a pre-teen with cerebral palsy.
Lucca is privileged, even if it weighs on me. He is one of the few who can exercise his right to study(did you know that only 1 in 4 children with disabilities attend school).
Talk to your children about children like Lucca.
Porque a pesar de los cambios en leyes (y hasta en la Constitución) nada ha cambiado en la inclusión de alumnos con alguna condición de vida. De hecho en este sexenio ha caído el número de niños, niñas y adolescentes que tienen la oportunidad de pisar un salón de clases.
Talk to your children about children like Lucca.
They should ask themselves out of genuine curiosity and without bias why there are no children with disabilities in their classroom or school. Or what disability means. Because teachers, principals and authorities do not say it, they do not explain it... they just evade it.
Talk to your children about children like Lucca.
Talk about different ways to move, to study, to communicate, to learn, to enjoy, to play, to make friends.
Talk to your children about children like Lucca.
Teach them what they do not learn in their schools: that disability is not a bad word, nor autism, nor Down syndrome, nor cerebral palsy, nor deafness, nor implant, nor wheelchair.
Talk to your children about children like Lucca.
I trust in them, in the Mexicans who have not been misled by 'that's the way it is', by 'there is no room in my school', 'a different kid can make his classmates worse' or 'we are not the school he deserves'.
A girl of only 11 years old asked for an appointment with the principal of the school where Lucca goes to ask not to be moved to another classroom, "I want to be his classmate until high school". She had to explain that she not only understands how my son uses his communicator but that she has fun with him, he is her best partner in group work and they make an inseparable duo. I was ignored in that request (that they not be separated), but she was able to defend better than me with her arguments that she is empathetic and inclusive.
Today there are hundreds, thousands of Mexicans and Mexicans with disabilities between the ages of 5 and 17 who will not leave their homes, who have not bought colors and will not wear a school shirt for the first time. There are 828,890 in total.
No one sees them, no one misses them at school, no one fights for them to be desk neighbors because they have not been told about children with disabilities.
Talk to your children about children like Lucca.
Because teachers don't know, schools protect themselves, administrators use 'politically justifiable' methods to leave 25% of the population with disabilities illiterate (without taking away a night's sleep).
Talk to your children about children like Lucca, about children like the son of Karem Robert, co-founder and active promoter of 'Familias extraordinarias', a civil organization of hundreds of parents of children with disabilities. She has received dozens of stories from parents who have heard before today that their child 'they don't receive him', 'his siblings yes, the other one no', 'it is necessary to pay extra tuition', 'we don't have space', 'the parents' association doesn't want them to share the same classroom', 'we don't want to let them down because we don't feel we are capable'.
"In the private sector, many schools still reject students with disabilities on the grounds that they are not prepared in terms of infrastructure and training, as well as the requirement to pay special fees for special education, the hiring of monitors/educational assistants (the so-called shadows) without having a justification for the real needs of each student and the signing in some cases of guidelines or agreements to ensure their permanence in school," Karem tells me. There is nowhere to complain to the SEP, no one listens to parents and many times they do not want to file a discrimination complaint for fear of retaliation.
Talk to your children about children like Lucca.
That they know that 17% of all Mexicans live with a disability. That this is not a bad thing, but it is unfair not to have them close and enjoying education.
Talk to your children about children like Lucca.
Teach them to be attentive, to say hello, to ask them what they have or how they feel, to encourage you to get to know them, to encourage you to help them with their homework or share your fears and joys.
Only 4 out of 10 schools claim to have the necessary infrastructure and materials to serve children with disabilities. But they tell this to the SEP, not to parents, they never ask for our support on 'how do we make sure that yes' our children are included and educated.
Talk to your children about children like Lucca.
Discuss the importance of valuing differences.
Talk about the beauty of being empathetic (and that it is a two-way street, not an assistance path).
Talk about the rights of all.
Speak from tenderness and curiosity, never from a distance and 'stay out of it'.
Talk to your children about children like Lucca.
They are the ones in whom I have the most confidence that we will ever have a country where being 'non-standard' is not a punishment.
PLUS:
There are many injustices, there are many students with disabilities who will not enter school today.
We need to be active and defend the most basic rights.
I invite those who experience a situation of this type of discrimination to report these cases.
The best lawyer and expert in these matters is Agustín de Pavia (whastapp: 56 5222 5479).
Here I leave you their previous recommendations, what to do so that the complaint can be ratified and be successful.
When a school refuses to receive a student with a disability, it is necessary:
● Document the entire order and refusal process via e-mails, WhatsApp messages.
● Record meetings with authorities and teachers where they say why they do not accept a person with a disability in the institution.
● Offer alternatives so that if they can receive the student and document responses.
● Narrate facts, gather evidence and if possible witnesses.
● Save all this material to be added to a complaint to the authorities.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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