Back-to-back earthquakes devastated Mexico in 2017, turning homes, businesses and public spaces to rubble. Among those structures affected was CAM No. 8, a school for children with disabilities in the majority-indigenous municipality of Juchitán, Oaxaca. The school provides education and physical therapy for 57 children, the majority of women come from indigenous families, often led by single mothers. As a result of the earthquake, the school had to close for 15 months, leaving the children without access to education or physical therapy and their parents with nowhere to turn. The school was not prioritized by local authorities for rebuilding, putting at risk both the education and rehabilitation of their children, as the closest rehabilitation center was close to 100 kilometers away. With the support of PADF, the students returned to school in January 2019.
Returning to school was an incredibly important moment for many students, including Lupita, a 7-year old girl with Down-Syndrome, whose first language is Zapotec. Before the earthquake, Lupita could not walk despite the physical therapy she received in school. After returning to school with the other children, Lupita began receiving physical therapy in the new hydrotherapy and mechanotherapy facilities installed by PADF, and today she is walking on her own.
Returning to school was an incredibly important moment for many students, including Lupita, a 7-year old girl with Down-Syndrome, whose first language is Zapotec. Before the earthquake, Lupita could not walk despite the physical therapy she received in school. After returning to school with the other children, Lupita began receiving physical therapy in the new hydrotherapy and mechanotherapy facilities installed by PADF, and today she is walking on her own.
Thanks to her renewed education, she has also improved her communication skills, making her even more independent. In the words of the school’s director, “Independence has been an important achievement for her and her family, as she is now able to move around, eat, and use the bathroom on her own. She participates, makes decisions on her own, and is able to communicate them to others.”
For students like Lupita, returning to classes at the newly renovated and modernized school has been transformative. However, parents and teachers have reached important milestones as well; during the planning process, PADF identified that the perceived stigma associated with being a parent for a child with disabilities led parents to not advocate for the needs of the children who attended this educational institution. PADF worked with the community to empower the parents and teachers and accompanied them in reaching out to local authorities to get their buy-in and promote the attention to the disability community. As a result of these efforts, local authorities signed off on the reconstruction efforts and have pledged to support the sustainability, which the school community has planned based on their needs. With PADF’s support, Lupita and her classmates will be guaranteed quality education in the future.
