Schools, which have been closed for almost four weeks, are putting a lot of strain on parents' everyday lives, and for those whose children have a disability, the challenge is completely different. “Mental health is declining,” said Taline Ladayan, mother of an 8-year-old daughter who requires constant care.
Published at 4:17 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
“Think of all of us too and find a solution!” »
Taline Ladayan appeals to the unions as well as to the government of François Legault. “I have the impression that everyone makes fun of us, everyone has their own plans,” she complains. When she talks about the last few weeks with her daughter at home full time, the words “difficult” and “difficult” come up. “That’s really a lot,” she sighs.
This is because 8-year-old Paleny, who has multiple disabilities, attends a technical school in Laval, which has been closed “indefinitely” since November 21 due to strikes in the public sector.
Like nearly half a million students whose teachers are affiliated with the Autonomous Education Federation, she has missed 19 days of school so far.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Paleny requires around six hours of care per day. School usually gives her parents a break and is also a stimulation for the young girl with multiple disabilities.
School is a breathing space for us and a stimulus for them. I can't leave her sitting in her wheelchair and concentrating on my work.
Taline Ladayan, mother of Paleny, 8 years old
“When she's there, she doesn't do anything: I have to stimulate her, let her play with her toys, put her on her standing board,” explains Ms. Ladayan, the director of a nonprofit organization. Her husband also works full time.
Paleny needs about six hours of care a day: giving her medication, getting her to eat and drink, changing her diapers, stimulating her.
It is impossible for Ms. Ladayan to take her daughter to work: the workplaces are not suitable.
“It’s catastrophic”
Vania Aguiar, president of the Little Kings Foundation, which helps young people with intellectual disabilities, and herself the mother of a boy with autism spectrum disorder, knows well the situation in which these parents find themselves.
“It is difficult because they have no choice to stay at home. “You can’t just keep a child like that, it’s much more complicated,” she says.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
The President of the Les petits rois Foundation, Vania Aguiar, during the inauguration of the new Irénée Lussier School
For parents of disabled children, “it is catastrophic,” says Vania Aguiar.
It is also catastrophic for children with disabilities because they lose all points of reference: their friends, their teachers, their school workplace. It is very difficult.
Vania Aguiar, President of the Little Kings Foundation
Still, she says, the teachers and those who support these students “work hard, so hard.” “But it needs to be resolved very quickly, for our young people who need to go to school,” Ms. Aguiar continues.
In recognizing teachers' right to strike, Taline Ladayan says parents “have limits.”
“If the caregivers of these children are exhausted, who will take care of them? ” asks the mother, who is worried about the parents of disabled children who do not enjoy some of their “privileges”, such as the ability to work from home.
“Even if the parents support the teachers, fatigue sets in,” observes Vania Aguiar.
This is not the first work conflict that has left parents of severely disabled children in the lurch. At the beginning of the 2022 school year, the bus drivers' strike forced many parents to keep their children at home for several days due to the lack of adapted transportation options. Several special schools welcome children who come from far away to attend courses adapted to their needs.
There could be a surprise
For the Little Kings Foundation, the closure of schools poses another problem: if they don't reopen by the holidays, we will end up with 600 gifts that should be distributed to three special schools in Montreal.
“This year it is proving more difficult to make deliveries. We were supposed to do it on Monday, but it doesn’t look good,” says Vania Aguiar. A large proportion of the young people at these three schools are “in a very precarious situation,” she says.
Students at the Irénée Lussier School in Montreal were among those who were to receive this surprise before the holidays.
Ironically, Prime Minister François Legault and Education Minister Bernard Drainville were present at the inauguration of the newly built school last October.
More than a month before the strike began, they were greeted by a demonstration of union members from the Inter-Union Common Front and the Montreal Teachers' Alliance.