Isabel Cristina Melo:

“There is still great opposition to fully opening the doors of Spiritist Centres to people with disability”

The education expert from Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state says
there is still a great deal to be done in order to include
people with special needs into Spiritism
 

	Isabel Cristina Melo (photo), who lives in the seaside resort of Rio das Ostras, talks to us about her huge experience in the education of people with special needs and disabilities. She also says Spiritist Centres need to do more to improve access and inclusion to those people.
Isabel, tell us first how you came into Spiritism and how your experience with education for people with disabilities came across that path.

I came into Spiritism through a difficult path, through pain. A gentleman lent me his Spirits’ Book in a time when I was linked to Umbanda (Brazil’s afro-inspired religion). I read the book and other works and realised Spiritism had the answers I needed.  I continue to have great respect and affection for those in Umbanda, but I realised Spiritism enabled me to go further in my questions and gave me great comfort. I joined a Spiritist Centre in Rio de Janeiro and began working in the evangelisation of children. Meanwhile, as a school teacher I was invited to work with children with disability and accepted the challenge, which gave me great satisfaction. I put both experiences together and set up groups that are still working, dealing with Spiritism and special needs (Grupo Dona Meca and GAPEB).

Despite the advances in recent years in Brazil, there is still a long way to go for the Spiritist Movement to include people with special needs. Why is that?

This is a very complex and delicate question. I believe most people, Spiritists or not, still link disability to punishment. Jesus has introduced us God as the Father of Justice, defined above all by love and mercy. But the aspect of punishment still seems to reverberate in our minds. In most Spiritist Centres, opposition to full accessibility to people with disability is still huge. There are very few Spiritist books in Braille, there are no ramps for wheelchair access and there is no concerted effort to include young people with learning disabilities. However, inclusion is mentioned in the five core works of Allan Kardec. Spiritism has the prospect of making a remarkable contribution to the cause of inclusive education. It needs to open up to the advances that can be observed everywhere else in the community.

Don’t you think the concept of reincarnation should provide us, Spiritists, with a privileged view of disabilities?

It should, as it does not matter if the person who is among us is going through trial or expiation. What really matters is that we are all here, reincarnated in order to progress. Our brothers and sisters who have reincarnated with mental or physical disabilities can do away with our scrutiny over the causes of their condition. They should be given the opportunity of enjoy all the benefits the Teachings give us, including the power it gives us to keep going in this world or trials and tribulations.

Does sharing a classroom, a study group, with people with disability is enough or is anything else required, from an academic perspective, in order to make it work?

I believe the first step is to open the doors to include our brothers and sisters, as well as their families. After that, the demand will grow, others will join and Spiritist Centres will be forced to find an answer to the new challenges. Spiritism teaches us that we are all immortal Spirits, with an experience and knowledge amassed in many lives. Let us try to reach the spark that lies inside that brother or sister who has disabilities in this incarnation. That will help him, as well as us, grow and progress spiritually.

What lessons have you drawn from your visits to special needs schools and other institutions?

In those visits, what came up to my mind was: “They are people first and foremost!”, “Do not attempt to make assumptions about his/her past by looking at his/her body.”, “What does he/she expect from me? If I lived or studied here, what would I like to get out of this visit?” I realised I was entering what for many of those people was their only home and that guided my actions there. We need to be positive and optimistic. Later, I would make a more thorough assessment of the visit and discuss what was needed to improve and to make the next visit more productive. The prejudice against people with disability can be felt in words and actions. In which way does Christianity help up tackle prejudice? The Gospel does not tell us not to see, but to have eyes to see it properly. When we stop studying in Spiritist Centres and we stop thinking about this and other Teachings of Christ, we begin point the finger at others while resting comfortably on our own moral imperfections, which are very often so convenient to us! Sharing our lives with people with special needs means facing (thankfully, all the time) such valuable principles.

What message would you like to leave for those who work with special needs education within Spiritism?

Do persevere in this beautiful work, drawing your power to carry on mainly from Christ, who has given us the opportunity of this reincarnation so that we could, through free-will, learn with our fellow brothers and sisters who were brave enough to return to Earth in this condition. They know they will need the help of others, but are also aware that they have a great deal to teach. We are partners in this journey. They have not given up. We, in our turn, request that the Spiritual Benefactors be with us to help us succeed in carrying out this beautiful  job, alongside  all volunteer workers in the Spiritist Movement.