A Mother's Outcry: The Exclusion of an Autistic Child from a School Event

"I have a pain inside, it was thrown out like a barking dog": says Patrizia, emphasizing that she is more angry than hurt, the mother of an 11-year-old autistic child who attends a school in Afragola, in the province of Naples. Just a few days ago, through a video that was sent to her, she learned that last February 7 her autistic son was removed by the school principal during an event organized in the gym for the day against bullying. A decision made because, according to someone, he was probably bothering the attendees. In the video, the support teacher is seen taking the boy out on the principal's order: "Teacher, please take that boy and bring him to class". "He was evidently smiling and happy for that moment of sociality," says the mother, "he was removed because those smiles in his own way evidently bothered someone". Patrizia, mother of two autistic children, after seeing the images turned to the association "La battaglia di Andrea" which has been fighting for the rights of the differently abled for years. "When the mother showed us the video we were shocked" - declares Asia Maraucci, president of the association - but what shocked us the most is the deafening silence that was created around it and the fact that no one said anything, no one protested - she continues - the lady asked for support from our lawyer Sergio Pisani and we immediately put her in contact with him who immediately took the situation to heart and decided to follow it - she concludes - we hope that the situation will be clarified, but to this day those words echo in our heads and are heavy as boulders.