2023-08-27 16:19:00
“I’ve been trying to find a solution since the beginning of the summer. I sent dozens of emails that went unanswered. The administration told me that autistic people were not entitled to transport in Brussels. Normally, it is possible to obtain an exemption. I asked what were the steps to take and I had no info. Last Tuesday, I learn that the deadline for submitting an application is set for Wednesday. In a panic, I call the school but the responsible person is on leave. I go to school and there I am told that they have had no information from the administration”, she laments.
This week, Fabienne will therefore have to drive her son to school herself.
“I took time off so I’ll drive it. And followingwards, I will have to pay 18 euros a day for a transport company to take my son to school in the morning and pick him up in the evening. At this stage, it’s the only solution I’ve found, but I don’t know how I’ll do it from a financial point of view”. With her autism, using public transport is impossible.
“They don’t count”: students in special education without school transport
“My son does not know how to take public transport alone. If he is attacked, he will not be able to react and if there is a problem with a transport, he will not be able to ask for help. My son is afraid of people and noises. He panics very quickly. It’s not a whim, he has a medical certificate attesting to it.
The GAMP, an action group that campaigns once morest the lack of places for highly dependent disabled people) indicates for its part the existence of “aberrant situations of transport refused to children in the two regions.”
Free education parents worried
The issue of school transport is also of concern to the Union francophone des associations de parents de l’enseignement catholique (UFAPEC).
In vocational education, the double penalty for parents who face very expensive schooling
“At the end of the school year, in Brussels as in Wallonia, there were still circuits canceled due to absence or conveyors. We know that the driver shortage has not been fully resolved. It is accompanied by a shortage of conveyors to ensure a presence with the students on the organized circuits. A lack of drivers and escorts cannot prevent these students from going to school and lead to unjustified absences. Access to education is a fundamental right,” claims Bernard Hubien, spokesperson for the association.
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