I use to say there are
two kinds of special education teachers that I work with.
Sadly the first kind
looks for my help to lessen their workload.
They come to me and
ask, “what should I do with this student?”.
But nothing is ever
possible.
They just want to be
able to justify not doing everything they are supposed to do.
To be able to say “I tried,
but it just wasn’t possible”.
This is because none
of the teachers are really special education teachers.
Most of them are high
school graduates and they work as special education teachers because they were
given two option.
Either they do it or
they won’t work at all.
Not the best way to
motivate people.
This happened because
when we started, even the administrative personal saw special education as the
worst job imaginable.
It was something that
the government obliged them to do.
It was something that
they understood that needed to be done.
But at the same time,
culturally, it was the most disgusting thing they could possibly do.
For Kichwa culture, a
child that is born visibly disabled is supai wawa, a demon child.
Supai wawa is born
when a demon enters a woman and kills the baby inside and takes the baby’s body
over.
It is not a real baby,
but a kind of zombie, held by an evil spirit that wants to propagate.
And if it is allowed
to live it will spread around and infect other women and other women.
So, that finally all
babies born will be deformed, disabled, demons.
A very primitive
thinking that is luckily disappearing.
But in ways, it still affects
people’s actions.
Other form of
attaining disability is by sin.
If your parents
sinned, if they did something horribly wrong.
Then a disabled baby
is born.
A thinking born out of
a mix of traditional beliefs and Catholic Church’s teachings.
This way of thinking
also explains why some people attain disabilities later on in life.
Be it by disease,
accidents, or any other reason, the real reason behind it all is the sin.
Either they sinned, or
their parents but someone did it, and so now they have to live with a
disability.
When we started our
work with the special education among Kichwas it was not very popular.
And the teachers, who
were made to work with disabled children, were not very happy about it.
Some of them sought to
find ways to change career, or they simply renounced after seeing their
students.
Or they stayed long
enough to find another job.
Or they did the bare
minimum.
But then there is the
second kind of teachers.
Who come to me and ask
the same question “what should I do with this student?”.
And I find that they
have already gone the extra mile and beyond.
That they have gone to
the students home, they have gotten the mother to take them to the hospital.
They have gotten them
to the disability registry; they have gotten the attention necessary.
They are doing what I
told.
But it’s not enough.
They want more.
Because in Kichwa
culture, everything is communal.
You take care of your
community and its members.
You make sure
everything is well and they are well.
And when a special
education teacher understands that a disabled person is truly a person.
That they are on a
mission, on a mission to make sure everyone understands it.
To make sure, they are
made part of the community.
And when the community
accepts the person, it does not matter what the parents want, it does not
matter what anyone wants or says.
Because the community
makes sure that everyone in the community are well and taken care of.
When I came here, I
saw an impossible mission in front of me.
And I was sure I would
never be able to make it.
Vast amount of people,
hidden in the jungle, far away from each other, with a culture that tells them
that people with disability aren’t people.
How could I change it?
Well, it was
impossible, I could not change it and I won’t change it.
The special education
teachers are making the change, one community at time.
