Breaking Down Barriers: Empowering a More Inclusive Society for People with Disabilities
|| David Marcano Duarte
*** Among the members of this population there is no discrimination, violence begins when they face a world without empathy
Regarding bullying or as it is also called bullying, Richard Zambrano, director of the “Padre Antonio Leyh” Special Education Institute, located in the municipality of Mario Briceño Iragorry in the state of Aragua, noted that this social phenomenon does not occur in the rooms a class of students with social-cognitive abilities, call it Down syndrome or autism, because it is a completely different world to the normal system.
“Here bullying does not exist, what happens is the sectorization of groups given naturally by the condition, for example: the disadvantages tend to meet among themselves, but total exclusion from the population is not happening,” he noted.
The educator claimed that members of the general student population share, smile and work together, without any form of trauma or complication. “They act like children and because of that they identify with their parents, but it doesn’t mean they exclude others from other conditions,” he said.
He emphasized that bullying is not framed by any sector, for the simple reason that everyone sees themselves as coming from the same community of students or in other words, “they look the same.”
“They hug you, participate in sports activities and never exclude, unless they are not medicated at a certain time and produce loud noises for the rest,” he added.
THE OUTSIDE WORLD
Zambrano warned that classrooms outside, in terms of social development, are very difficult for them and their families, especially when it comes to public transport service.
“They are students who are abused a lot by the carriers, they don’t respect their right to pay half price and, even worse, they don’t put them on the vans,” he pointed out.
In this sense, he mentioned that every day they receive complaints from relatives that the transport units “simply do not stop”, which prompted them to meet on several occasions with the directors of the El Limón Transport Union to find a way out “But it has been difficult for them to become aware.”
“This is a population that exists and has limited economic resources that, a high percentage, live with grandparents, uncles or older adults,” he said.
He mentioned that another difficulty is medication, due to the high costs of acquiring it. He suggested that there could be a way out for the State to make alliances with the pharmaceutical companies that produce this type of medicine, so that they look at this population with more concern.
“Either they completely assume that the cost of the drugs or the manufacturers will be able to provide support by reducing the price, because if anything we are talking about a population that reaches 1% at the state level ,” he said.
MUST ATTEND FROM HOME
Valentina Trovat, an undergraduate teacher at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Carabobo and coordinator of the Office of the Secretary of this university, noted that special education has an inclusive nature, as established by the national Constitution.
“Education is a universal human right and it must be guaranteed to all without distinction of any nature, nor can it be achieved free of charge,” he said.
Regarding bullying, he said that it must be tackled from the dysfunction of homes, based on a statistic that reveals that there are children who encourage ridicule in front of a person they consider different.
He explained that these types of attitudes are linked to the values and principles that are nurtured at home.
In this sense, it suggests that the teacher must promote the expected learning objectives in the classrooms, based on values such as love, empathy and solidarity, as well as other actions to guarantee the stability of children with different purposes.
The teacher, who has a doctorate in Public Health, mentioned that they should discuss cases of attacks on this population in meetings of parents and representatives, in order to avoid them.
He invited the community to be more compassionate and empathetic with these children, as well as to create mechanisms to investigate these cases.
RAISE THEIR VOICES
José Eduardo Cubillán, the representative of the Social Therapeutic Tourism Route in favor of Disability, said that beyond school abuse of those with a condition, there should be a call for the true inclusion of people with a disability, from pre-school to higher studies.
“Aragua does not escape the neglect of people with disabilities, however, it has the greatest capacity to take care of students, through organizations that support them,” he said.
He ensured that a large number of special organizations provide this service to the disabled population, but it is necessary that these labor education workshops level them with diversified education, with the intention that young people from the age of 14 learn a trade which allows their independence and guarantees their active participation in society.
El Periodiquito Photos / Courtesy