In Guatemala, individuals with disabilities experience life very differently from individuals with disabilities in the U.S. In Guatemala, children are allowed to fail a particular grade 3 times, and then their educational career is over. And for kids whose disabilities impact their ability to learn, that is exactly what happens. Other kids are viewed as a curse or kept inside so that they won't shame their families. When my husband and I first started traveling to Guatemala, we did what many students did: we volunteered at a local hospital/orphanage called Hermano Pedro. What we saw was truly shocking. Kids with severe disabilities spent their lives over-medicated and sedate, staring at the ceiling above them from cribs that looked more like cages. Even though they were in a place that took care of most of their basic needs (except touch), many of the kids were shockingly malnourished with atrophied muscles and soiled pants. Some kids banged their heads against their cribs only to be yelled at or ignored. Many had failure to thrive. Once I began to speak with the nurses, I learned many of them had parents. Some had parents who came to visit them if they could. They simply couldn't take care of them.
Not long after that, I learned of a school called Escuela Nueva Vida (New Life School) in a nearby village called Santa María de Jesús. This school is run by a group of Christian Missionaries, but the teachers and other staff are all local indigenous individuals. This school believes that ALL of us are God's children and that we ALL have inherent worth. This is not just rhetoric--the staff truly live this in the behaviors they model for the children. The success of the school is evident in the rapidly growing number of children who attend. All children attend for free, and all are allowed to learn at their own pace. Because of this school, individuals with all types of disabilities are able to become literate. They are able to remain with their families, or be taken out in public and to a place where they aren't teased or treated as a joke. I invite you to check out their school online. New Life School It is clear that they are truly changing lives and modeling the decency with which ALL human beings deserve to be treated.