“We have no places for such children…”

“Our children are isolated. Liberate them!” was the demand voiced by parents of autistic children outside the Ministry of Education’s offices on the World Autism Awareness Day. It is precisely the educational system that prevents these children from feeling themselves full members of the Ukrainian society.

“Our children are stigmatized and have their access to everything limited. My son is attending a specialized preschool educational institution, and we understand that we will find it very difficult to enroll an autistic child in a regular school. Wherever we turn, they say one thing: ‘We have no places for such children…’ There are next to no specialized schools, while regular schools are not interested in teaching our children. Had our son been able to attend a school together with healthy children, he would have developed and adapted rather better. One just cannot learn to act like everyone else when people constantly show that you are different,” said Oleksandr Panchenko, the father of six-year-old Kyrylo.

Legislation establishing inclusive education was passed in Ukraine back in 2010. However, according to the parents, the law’s prescriptions have not been implemented so far. The parents understand that the transition process is long and money-consuming, so they stand ready to do their part to help the state to ensure these children’s education in the time of transition. Currently, their chief demands include the introduction of autism classroom assistant positions in schools.

“This innovation requires no money allocated by the state. This work will be carried out by volunteers selected by parents. This position should not be one of an assistant teacher, but one of a communicator who helps to make the environment and the learning process one and help the child if necessary,” chairwoman of the Association of Autistic Children’s Parents Yevhenia Panichevska told us. “The point is that an autistic child can be distracted from their schoolwork by many things, for example, by a pen that fell on the floor. A classroom assistant will suggest what to look for, what textbooks to bring out, and how to behave at a particular moment. The school will find it unusual. Many teachers now oppose our idea when they hear about it. Still, we have successful examples of such cooperation working both abroad and in Ukraine. With a classroom assistant present, children learn more effectively which reduces the burden on teachers.”

Representatives of the ministry emerged from the building to meet the protesters, including head of the bureau of education for special needs children at the department of secondary and primary education Tetiana Symonenko. She assured them that the ministry was willing to hold a dialog and invited the parents to jointly discuss further actions.

By the way, a similar protest was held in 2013, but the cooperation has stayed at the discussion stage ever since. The parents hope that their proposals will be finally taken into account this time.