Giovanna Spantigati

Schools have opened again and just after one month there are many and merciless problems regarding the inclusion of disabled students.

The law states that disabled people have the right to education, but it's just a fairy tale. You can register them, it is true, but they are not suitably helped.

Paul (fantasy name), is a boy suffering from serious illnesses, who had been given support at school only 9 hours per week, has already been withdrawn from school because his teacher pretended she was ill and stayed home every time she should have attended him. Paul is a difficult child to manage, but he also has the right and duty to go to school. I would suggest his teacher to think of the reasons why she had chosen this job. (professional ethics.) The number of children with disabilities who do not have enough support hours at school has been increasing and the government will be forced to face this problematic situation. There are head teachers of secondary schools who ask families to take home their disabled children when there is no learning teacher support at school ... there are no adequate facilities in order to integrate children with disabilities. If they don't create them, they'll have to change laws, as they are not applicable.

The schools and the superintendency blame each other. Six months ago, the superintendency assured me that my son would get all the support hours available, "Just because" they told me, "his case is serious." Thank you for reminding me. Now the School director, who was asked to explain why he decided to assign a teacher to support only 9 out of 39 hours per week, denied saying that the Superintendency has determined that the case was not so serious. Wow… I didn't realize there had been such a miracle! How could I be so distressed? Maybe next year they will tell us that our children are no longer disabled (and that the government has finished the money to pay the learning support teachers.) This is an old story, but do we believe it or is it an answer of convenience?

In the meantime, alone or with the help of lawyers, families keep on going. It is frustrating, but when you know you are right you go ahead steady, with balance and peace of mind. Because you are fighting for good, not to disappoint your child's expectations, always giving a positive example. After many humiliations you ask yourself, watching your child, if he will never know what you are doing for him. You can't tell him, because he needs to feel accepted, not rejected by society. And the moment you think about all this and therefore feel terribly lonely, he comes to you and says, "Mom, you know I love you?" You smile at him and everything's over.


Giovanna Spantigati