“I was afraid to go to school”

From this Tuesday, December 23, the third episode of the second season of the series is now available. videopodcat ‘Capable of anything’.

After the episodes of the lawyer expert in disability Assumption of the Morenawhich highlights legal issues of great interest to family members of persons with disabilities; and the visit of Carlos Valiente, president of the National Association of Specialized Education Centers (ANCEE)In this third part, the protagonist is Teresa Valencia, a 27-year-old woman who, like 8 out of 10 disabled students, had to face a painful experience of harassment.

Therese Valencia She shares with Pilar García de la Granja the suffering that has caused her for years, not only that her classmates, since primary school, have attacked her, but also that lack of understanding from their teacherswho didn’t understand that I needed more time to understand things, “it’s difficult for me to understand things, and I just needed them to explain them several times, but the teachers didn’t know how to teach me. They scolded me for everything, they told me that I had no ability for anything”, he recalled with pain.

The situation became untenable at the institute when, faced with the inaction of the teachers and the threat of her bullies, Teresa collapsed and fell into a great depression. “Thank God I never thought about killing myself,” she said with relief.

But what she was experiencing was not life either and she had to turn to a psychiatrist who advised her to change of schoolingwho marked a before and after in his life, “at high school it was horrible, they attacked me, they told me that I was small, they attacked my clothes and what’s more, they threatened me if I said something to my parents, and I didn’t tell them anything, I was afraid to go to high school, I even had to go to the psychiatrist because I was very bad. It was he who recommended that I change schools, start again from zero.”

And indeed, he started from zero, and his life took a 180 degree turn. As she says in this episode, she finally felt loved and supported and it allowed her to complete a FP. For six years, she has worked in a company as a marketing and communications assistant and leads a busy and happy life.

His dream: to devote himself to painting

The fact that Teresa is disabled does not prevent her from having a “super ability” in other areas, such as the arts. In fact, she has been taking painting classes for years and paints like angels: “except people’s faces, I can paint everything,” she says proudly.

He has already had an exhibition and received orders, but his dream is to sell his paintings and be able to devote himself professionally.

There is, of course, no shortage of talent, talent that, as he admits in the podcast, might never have emerged if he hadn’t gotten out of that terrible bullying situation, ““All people are different, but at the same time equal, and it really hurts me that people don’t think about their feelings.”

We can get out of harassment, but with help, that’s why Teresa, in addition to inviting us to watch the entire episode, now available on iVoox, Spotify and YouTube invite all those who experience a situation of harassment to “never give up, to ask for help. And to the rest of the children, I would say that to people, whatever their disability, you should not move away, but rather approach them, watch them say ‘come on, you can do it'”.

After Teresa Valencia’s episode, in the coming weeks you will be able to see those of the rest of the guests, such as Nuria Maximodoctor in occupational therapy and coordinator of the Animals and Society Chair at Rey Juan Carlos University; either Lola Ariasmother of a boy with Down syndrome and creator of the podcast You Won’t Be Left Behind.