Marcos
Paterra:
“The inclusion of
children with learning
disability in the
activities of Spiritist
Centres
is not
unrealistic”
The
well-known Spiritist
researcher and educator
talks about the matter
of including children
with learning disability
in the
activities of Spiritist Centres
|
Marcos Paterra (photo),
is a Spiritist educator,
speaker and writer in
João Pessoa, capital of
Brazil’s Paraíba state.
In this interview he
talks about the matter
of how to include
children with learning
disability in the
activities of Spiritist
Centres.
|
As an educator and
Spiritist, what is your
assessment of
the
possibilities of
including
children with
learning
disabilities and
other forms of
disability in
the activities
of Spiritist
institutions? |
Most Spiritist Centres
still lack the
infrastructure and the
trained personnel to
deal with the many types
of disability. Including
children with learning
disability and other
forms of disability,
either in schools or
Spiritist Groups, is for
many unrealistic. But I
feel encouraged by the
example of institutions
that make the necessary
changes to receive
disabled people. It is a
positive move, but
proper inclusion is one
step ahead. If you have
a son with autism, or
hearing problems or Down
Syndrome, what do you
do? Either you exclude
him or you take him to
one of the groups that
will accept him.
Are you saying then that
inclusion is
unrealistic?
No. But… Inclusion is
based in several
concepts. I can mention
three here that are
relevant for children:
1. The child must feel
it is part of a group.
2. The child must have
friends and meaningful
social relations with
their pears, or it must
feel he or she is giving
a valuable contribution
to the group.
3. Finally, the child
must be treated with
equality, affection and
respect as an
individual.
It is not enough to
create ramps for wheel
chair access or special
classes for children
with learning
disabilities. Social
inclusion will not take
place if these three
points are ignored.
Is there proper
inclusion of disabled
children in courses for
children at Brazilian
Spiritist Centres?
One of the major
challenges Spiritst
organisations are facing
in Brazil at the moment
is how to include
children with any form
of disability. In a
desperate effort to
help, Spiritist Centres
may end up doing more
harm than good. Children
may end up with their
self-confidence even
more damaged; they may
lose motivation and
react by acting with
indiscipline, anger or
aggression, as they feel
they are not capable of
learning. We need to set
up an Education Project
adapted to the new
conditions and also
identify they challenges
faced by those pupils
and act upon them.
What is the impact of
the current system, with
children being taught
the Gospel without the
proper inclusion of
those with
disabilities?
We live in a world built
on ideas of eugenics,
where whoever is
different or disabled
must be “excluded”. In
the past few years, we
have seen in Brazil huge
campaigns to legalise
abortion, euthanasia and
to undermine any serious
attempts of inclusion.
We need, thus, to create
an education system that
embraces inclusion. To
evangelise means to
spread the good news.
That must be done taking
into account the love of
Jesus for all of us,
without discriminating
against sex or
disabilities. I go even
further. I believe the
courses for young
Spiritists prepared and
approved by the
Brazilian Spiritist
Federation should
include the works of
authors such as J.
Herculano Pires, Ernesto
Bozzano, Bezerra de
Menezes and Adenauer de
Novaes on disabilities.
We, Spiritists, should
open our organisations
to inclusion of all
forms of disability,
otherwise we would be
behaving like hypocrites
and forming people with
a eugenic mentality.
Would you say that
children with some form
of disability or
learning difficulty,
such as autism, are
suffering from Spiritual
obsession?
Bezerra de Menezes, in
his book Loucura e
Obsessão, written by
the medium, Divaldo
Franco, says that autism
as well as other mental
and illnesses take place
in Spirits who had some
form of power in
previous lives and did
not know how to make
proper use of that
power. They abused their
power, their influence,
leadership etc., very
often using it only for
their own profit. The
Spiritist psychologist,
Adenáuer de Novais,
says: “There are
children who so strongly
reject their current
incarnation, their
family members, the
group and place to where
they have returned that
they shut themselves up
from reality. The Spirit
prefers to continue
living in the past.
Cases like that may lead
to autism”.
As well as suffering
with the
“self-obsession”, the
“children with
syndromes” also attract
enemies from the past
who come to persecute
them, to “obsess” them.
We would like to thank
you for this interview
and ask you to share
your final thoughts with
us.
Thank you very much for
this opportunity. I
would like to stress
that “inclusion” is not
only for people with
disabilities, but also
for different ethnic
groups, sexual options
and social and religion
differences. As we have
learned in Spiritism,
the body is only the
carcass the Spirit uses
to live in and progress.
Allan Kardec said in
Genesis (Chapter I,
item 36 ): “With belief
in reincarnation, the
prejudices of race and
castes fall dead, as the
same Spirit can be
reborn rich or poor,
lord or beggar, master
or subordinate, free or
enslaved, man or woman”.
|