- Since the assistance he has had so far in his learning career has been halved, it is not possible for the Usurbil Cerebral Palsy student to be able to carry out a proper learning process. But the Minister of Education of the Government, responding to the questions raised by EH Bildu, said that putting the help the student asks is “very exceptional”. Details of the student's wager and reaction in the following lines.
“Why has the student been denied full-time assistance? Why has the proposed centre, Elkartu association and family not been taken into account? What is the Department of Education going to do to dignify the child’s right to education?”, said EH Bildu Parliamentarian Ikoitz Arrese, following the case highlighted by ARGIA: With 87% motor disability, a young man from Usurbil has had an assistant in all his school hours in his academic career, but when he has gone to Vocational Training, he has only been given a part-time assistant. No progress can be made in the hours when there is no companion, and the centre itself has requested a full-time assistant, but has been refused by the Department of Education. This situation leads students to psychological therapy.
The course that comes the student wants to get a full-time assistant – this course has not succeeded and it is over – but the Basque Government Education Advisor, Jokin Bildarratz, in his reply, has not confirmed it. “First of all, it should be noted that a personalized follow-up of this case has been done and that it will continue to be carried out since its registration in the system, through the Berritzegune, the Special Educational Needs Service, as well as the Occupational Therapy Service,” explains Bildarratz, through which the counsellor has listed in the response all the work done (adequacy of materials, advice, psychopedagogical evaluations).
"My conclusion is that they have not listened to the work done, it is more, disrespect for this work of the professionals, because all of them have made it clear that there is no autonomy"
“Of course all this has been done – the mother of student Maria Enrique told ARGIA – and they have done a good job, giving guidelines and recommendations to improve the situation, but I conclude that they have not heeded this work, it is more, lack of respect for this work of the professionals, because all of them have made it clear that there is no autonomy. Does the Department of Education really believe that autonomy will be developed by reducing resources? It’s just the opposite: to promote autonomy, you need a companion, because it doesn’t encourage any autonomy in hours that don’t have help, but frustration and abandonment”.
As an argument, the Counselor says that the full-time attendant is used only with people “without total autonomy”, in “very exceptional” cases, “in relation to those cases where very severe motor impairment requires great help”. Another argument is that the refusal to extend the aid was made under the “mandate of Decree 118/1998” followed for these cases.
“I’ve felt frustration, helplessness, pain”
By way of exception, the mother of the student says it is “shameful”: “The allocation of resources must be personalized and effective, and the follow-up cannot be merely a formality for the completion of the file, if adaptation is necessary the resource needs to be adapted, and we continue to say that the help of our daughter is not adequate and not enough”. According to Enriquez, “I have felt frustration, helplessness, pain in reading the answer, because after a year nothing has changed, everything we have done during the course.”
In the final part of Bildarratz’s response, the Department of Education continues to work “so that through the above-mentioned support services (…) students can fully develop their skills within the framework of their training cycle practices”. But how are you going to follow up? Enriquez says, "Like so far? Will we have to reassess the situation, re-apply to the Department of Education and receive the same answer again?”
Exceptionally, the student's mother says it is "embarrassing": "Resource allocation must be personalized and effective, but nothing has changed after a year"
Mental health in the center?
The mother of the student has recalled that the Education Department has protocols to care for the students' mental health, “and they should be sensitive to this topic, they are seeing that the situation is getting worse and they know how it has affected the mood of our daughter, so it is painful to see that they maintain the same attitude and do not suggest that they can improve the situation. We knew that living with disabilities is living with many limitations, but we did not expect the Department of Education itself to be an obstacle to access to education.”
Enriquez made it clear that the criticism is not intended, but rather to solve the situation of her daughter: “We want the situation to change for the next course, our ultimate goal and priority is the help our daughter needs to achieve, just guarantee her rights.”