Feature: Autistic girl's exclusion from school trip sparks debate in Italy

Controversy over the reported exclusion of an autistic girl from a school trip has sparked debate in Italy over the handling of children with disabilities.

Days ago the local press reported the story of a 13-year-old autistic student whose classmates of a middle school near Milan refused to share a room with her on a planned trip to the Mauthausen concentration camp.

The trip was put off after the parents of the girl wrote a letter to the education ministry complaining about some prejudiced words used against their daughter the other students wrote in a messaging service.

"I want to examine what appears to be a growing problem," education minister Stefania Giannini was quoted as saying by ANSA news agency.

"We are doing extensive work on the issue of the potential exclusion of children who have problems," Giannini said, adding she would hold a meeting later this week on this case and similar ones.

There are around 60,000 autistic children among the nearly 235,000 disabled students in Italian schools who are looked after by some 130,000 special education teachers, according to national estimates.

Sources from the education ministry, quoted by Corriere della Sera newspaper, said they were working to simplify the heavy bureaucracy that hampers the matching of schools and families in need.

Local experts say difficulties in handling these children not only come from bureaucracy and lack of resources, but also from a society which demands everyone be fast, skilled, and perfect.

"We often see parents encouraging children to set an only goal in life: success; at the cost of crushing others," psychotherapist Monica Torsellini in Florence, who is an expert in therapies for disabled children, told Xinhua.

At the same time, the idea that performance and goals equal success is often transferred to children in schools, Torsellini added. "With these premises, we cannot complain that children are not willing to welcome a disabled schoolmate, or to help others later in their life," she observed.

Firstly, each child should be made aware that they live in a multifaceted world full of differences, where it does not change much if they learn to count to 50 six months later than others their age, Torsellini said.

Secondly, she went on saying, a disabled child should not be treated as if he or she were like the others. "Disabled children are different, and it makes no sense to pretend. They should be told instead that they may have troubles in reaching certain objectives, but at the same time, they may be able to achieve some other special results," she told Xinhua.

Alessandra Golia is a special education teacher working with disadvantaged kids at a primary school in Milan. "Sometimes the real problem arises from parents who are not willing to accept that their children have some difficulties, so that the main work has often to be carried out with families," she explained to Xinhua.

In addition, many schools in Italy lack the resources to properly handle disabled children, Golia noted. "I am now working with an autistic child, and sometimes it is just not possible to involve her in certain activities, especially in places that require strict respect for rules such as museums or theaters, because we would need more teachers to accompany the class," she said. Endit