“Communication is a right and must be guaranteed.”
Maria Martin is autismHe has two children with unite He also devotes his career career in this field, “When you register the autism or conference, they always ask you: Are you with autism? Are you a professional working with people with autism? Or are you close to people with autism? Well, because I put the three.”
Being clearer, his older son was the person who was diagnosed for the first time, because he was not verbal Mental disability… “The first to realize is me, I saw him clear from the beginning, so it was not a surprise, it was not difficult for me to assume that, as happened to many families.”
The diagnosis of the second cost is a little more than that, because it speaks, “When he was two years old, imprisonment with Covid was not well known whether the problems that were in the social part were for that, but but The presence of a brother with autism, the opportunities were high. In the change from the theater from the infant to the primary, I asked for an evaluation by the private and its diagnosis, ”Maria remembers.
After this diagnosis, Maria was clear, if her two children had autism, she also conducted an evaluation He discovered that he has autism with 36 years thanks to his children. Until then, he had to accept that everyone told him that he was rare and lived together since adolescence anxiety“My mother has always told me that it was very strange, it made me hysterical if they put me a dress, I faced food problems … It was, as they said, “a difficult girl” Because I faced school problems, on the social level, I did not understand others … in fact, since adolescence, I was treated in mental health by Chronic anxiety, panic crisis… but of course, my diagnostic was wrong. Thanks to the diagnosis, I had many answers, it was a way to tolerate things from adolescence and my childhood, “he says with resignation.
Autism, his focus on attention
Once their children are diagnosed, autism has become a great focus of Mary. He managed to turn him into his profession. “I managed to turn it into his profession.” I was a teacher and education, and I was a teacher … And there I actually met children with autism, Disability… for this reason when my son grew up, I saw him quickly. Once diagnosed was when I was I started training in autismIt became one of my own interests and even in the research world, for the university … “, he says.
currently, It is now working in the autism chair at Seville UniversityHe says that he is committed to students with autism who reach higher education, “We work, on the one hand, in secondary education, we prepare allergies with students, and we know teachers until they see that people with autism are candidates for high education. Part of work, awareness of companies, analysis of access to jobs …”.
In addition, at the family level, he cooperates in various organizations, as a woman with autism belongs to BakingThe Committee for Promotion and Support for Autism.
Thanks to the diagnosis, I had many answers, it was a way to tolerate things from adolescence and my childhood
Sak, your battle horse
On the other hand, the family and professionalism in particular are committed to reaching SAAC devices (Alternative communication systems and increase), and communications who need many people with autism, especially personal files like their older son, “there is a lot There is a somewhat defined concept of autism. It is believed that, since they do not speak, they cannot communicate, not that, but in many cases it is because they lack the tools. “
There are a useful system on the chart works and are a useful system, but they are much more electronic devices, such as communications, and tablets with software. However, as Maria complains, they are barely described, “in the case of kinetic disability, health systems are funded, especially those that are accessed with their own eyes, but to those related to touching, such as those who need people with autism, this step has not yet taken a generalized way. In fact, I know very few autism with those who carry these devices.”
And in that battle, because Many people cannot bear their costs“There are, at the regional level, some aid, but as much as the Andalusia, it is very limited and does not usually cover the cost of the device you need. In addition, not only communication, tablet or program, But you have to know how to use it, and for these treatments, therapists are needed to speak… in the end, it is an economic issue. ”
In the classroom, these systems do not end, above all, Maria believes, due to the lack of resources, in regular centers and in centers Special educationAs his older son says, “Communication requires a lot of attention. There are many teachers who want to use it, but they do not provide, because even if they are in specific or private classrooms, All children need a lot of supportAnd if the five have contacts, imagine … for madness. I understand that he is complicated for teachers, but he managed support like a person who needs cane, and must be taken into account and used more. “
If you deny communication, you deny the truth
The person who needs communication does not violate, according to Maria, The basic right for all people to communication. In addition to the fact that these systems not only benefit those who do not talk about anything or that they are cheated, as well as for people who suffer from some language disorders, “There is a wrong myth that if we give them these devices, they will not speak, because they attack it, but this is not so, but they do not cannot do so, but they do not cannot do so,” but they do not cannot do so. “
This autism has no completely wrong communication. The communication intention has a crying child
In addition, you should start using it, as soon as the need is seen, “Whenever the child has problems, we must try to put a communication system because this child must communicate in some way, because it is because it is This has no completely wrong communication intention. The communication intention has a crying child. Just because they do not communicate because the rest of the people hope that it does not mean that they will communicate is invalid. In fact, one of the things that appears first in autism Effective behaviorThat is, instead of speaking, my hand takes you to transfer it to a place, and that is also communication. ”Maria explains.
The communication was not, as Maria insists, “I have already exhausted everything, this child will not speak, and give him communication, but” a Etisalat access toolAs in other disabilities a WheelchairSome crutches … we need to look like this, and do not see like this. It is a right, not a luxury, and it must be guaranteed. “
Poourism, integration and equal opportunities
The issue of access to communication is just a sample of everything that remains to do in terms of Inclusion and equality For people with them Disability“What costs society more is to understand that there are equal opportunities and that they are Not everyone needs the same thingsHe says.
In her home, in addition, she has the best example, because she or her children need the same support, “my older son needs a saac, a person with him throughout the day to supervise him and his constant support because he has behaviors that can be dangerous for him, just as there was any diagnosis. The world is about motivationAnd more than that in a country like Spain, it can become very stressful, so I need time to escape and loneliness. We need to understand mainly and allow us to be as we are. “
Each of the people who have more support needs and those who need less, Maria asks about himself: financing, especially for investigation, but not only to find the reasons for autism, but, especially in favor of Improving the quality of the life of people with autism“They need to have a quality of life that they currently do not have because depression, anxiety, or self -behavior is much greater in the population with autism.”
More resources will not be bad in other areas, such as educational, as “faculty members who have better training, and this is more specialized, will be that there are more hours than PT and Al, because Inclusion You need real resources. “
As a mother of a child who has great support needs and another, he also wants to claim The right to adapt the work“Because the unemployment rate in any case is very high”; The entertainment centers that can be accessed, “because for people with autism with great support, they are not present and those who are on a two -month salary.” And society, Autism is not seen as a strange, strange, or exceptional thing“Because although it is sometimes invisible, there is a disease with autism in all social fields, and for this reason we need Understanding, sympathy, equal and right to complete developmentRegardless of the level of support we need and our disability rate. ”
