The United Nations General Assembly declared April 2 as the World Awareness Day about him autism. Due to this date, there are multiple activities and events that the different associations carry out to inform and raise awareness among the population about the behavior of these people. Autism Córdobain addition to the traditional events they hold every year (such as the solidarity race), since 2021 they have been preparing a focused awareness campaign on a theme. On this occasion, the focus is on the school bullying.
“Schoolchildren with autism face unique challenges that can make them more vulnerable to bullying,” explained the president of the Autism Association. Cordova, Francisca Suárez. Referring to international studies, Suárez detailed that “the consequences of children with ASD are more intense than in the rest of the students.” The president has detailed that 80% of minors with autism suffer bullying at school. However, this figure may not reflect the true extent of the problem, since 34% of schoolchildren with autism are not able to identify bullying situations school, “their perception of reality is different and they are being harassed, but they don’t know how to perceive it,” Suárez explained.
The president of Autismo Córdoba has detailed that people who have ASD are capable of studying, being autonomous, and functioning perfectly, but they do not have skills in social relationships, “the rest of their classmates do not understand what is happening with this different boy, We, society in general, are not accustomed to accepting differences.
It is not the characteristics of ASD that determine this harassment, these people also enjoy being with their friends, “although they feel it and live differently.” For all this, Autismo Córdoba together with Wings6ontheBeachthey make a documentary with which, through testimonies and real cases of associated children in Córdoba, It shows how these situations originate and manifest themselves, the measures that can be taken, or the role that both schools and this association play in preventing and addressing bullying.
Support from the City Council
The mayor of Córdoba, José María Bellidohas supported the association’s initiative, and has assured that it is an action “in which the entire society must become aware. If the city wants to move forward, we must build a better society, for everyone and among everyone”, so that “It makes no sense to focus only on economic progress, the proposals for job creation, industries or the logistics base, if then we are not able to also attend not only to the smallest from a point of view of the functioning of the city, but also to make the entire society inclusive “.
For his part, the deputy mayor delegate for Inclusion and Accessibility, Bernardo Jordano, has indicated that “if the Inclusion Delegation exists it is because there is exclusion“, so that “what is done makes all the sense in the world”, he has also emphasized that “harassment is the most graphic, most aggressive and most miserable of exclusion“.
The documentary will be joined by a exhibition on the Boulevard del Gran Capitán, from March 15 to April 15, to “make visible the association, people with autism and the great professionals who work on a daily basis and who are the true architects of children’s progress.”
New headquarters and more partners
The association is waiting to be able to raise a new headquarters, which “dignifies the treatment we give to our associates.” Autism Córdoba requested the transfer of space, located on Avenida del Aeropuerto (in a triangle that forms the avenue itself with Vicente Aleixandre and José Dámaso Pepete streets), in October of last year.
Currently they have “a small rented premises and no response is given to the 300 associated families“In addition, he pointed out that the families assisted have increased in the last year by about 50 and that “there are many more families that have problems”, highlighting that the association has “magnificent professionals, but they do their work in a place that is not appropriate.”