For her mother, that goal is especially important now that Bianca has entered adolescence. Until now, she had mainly socialised with people with hearing disabilities, an environment where she felt comfortable, but expanding her relationships to include hearing young people has been more complicated. “We hope to meet more people so that we can integrate Bianca because, nowadays, adolescence makes it more difficult to integrate her with hearing people, and I notice that she is being rejected,” she explains.
The family is also going through another process. Bianca is becoming increasingly aware of her disability, and new questions and emotions are beginning to emerge. Her mother hopes that these kinds of gatherings will allow her to meet different people and navigate spaces that, until now, have been less familiar to her.
BARRIERS IN THE CLASSROOM AND WHEN SEEKING WORK
Ruth Quintana, coordinator of CERMI Aragón’s Commission for Girls and Women, explains that the initiative grew out of experience developed at the national level and aims to create a space of their own in Aragón. “The real aim is for the girls to meet other girls, see other disabilities and realise that they can participate and, above all, that they can have spaces where they are the protagonists,” she says.
This learning also involves understanding that they have rights and can exercise them. Quintana warns that barriers appear from an early age and become especially visible during education, both in relationships with classmates and, in some cases, with teachers. The difficulties can continue later when it is time to look for work. “If having a disability already makes things difficult, being a woman with a disability makes them a little more difficult,” she sums up.
For this reason, one of the messages CERMI Aragón wants to convey is that associations, support and spaces exist where they can talk about what is happening to them. “They should know that there are ways for them to participate, and places where they can share their experiences, their needs or the problems they are encountering,” Quintana insists. The organisation wants that participation to extend beyond the field of disability to include spaces where youth, equality and rights are discussed.
LEARNING TO MAKE DECISIONS WITHOUT OVERPROTECTION
Jesús Carlos Laiglesia, president of CERMI Aragón, places autonomy at the centre of the initiative. “The aim is to create a space where these girls can learn, share experiences and learn about all their rights so that they can make choices in their lives,” he explains. For Laiglesia, their opinions should not be secondary, and the challenge is for them to be able to make more and more decisions in their everyday lives.
The work also extends to families. While the girls and teenagers take part in the workshop ‘The Power to Take Charge’, led by Sara Santos and Laura Montoya of the Spanish Youth Council, the mothers attend their own session, The Power of Feeling, given by outreach communicator Lucía Machota. The session addresses fears, care, shared responsibility and an issue of particular concern to many families: how to protect without overprotecting.
Laiglesia acknowledges that finding this balance is not always easy. Mothers, he points out, also need spaces to share their concerns and experiences in order to help their daughters become more independent. “They do not want to overprotect these girls,” says the president of CERMI Aragón, who argues that they should be able to grow up with the necessary support without other people constantly making decisions for them.
