The director of the DISCA Millennium Nucleus, Florencia Herrera, and the general coordinator of DISCA, Andrea Rojas, traveled to Punta Arenas to carry out a series of activities around the line of Sexuality and Reproduction of people with disabilities.
Both shared with members of the Network of Protection of Rights and Social Inclusion, Reprodis, a program aimed specifically at mothers and fathers with disabilities in the region, which emerged in the School of Occupational Therapy at the University of Magallanes, UMAG.
“It was a very nice, intense and rewarding experience. We went to learn about the work of Reprodis, which has an area of comprehensive sexual education for people with intellectual disabilities and also an area of maternity support for women with intellectual disabilities,” commented Florencia Herrera.
“Reprodis has followed several cases of mothers with intellectual disabilities and its work is transcendental, because it changes lives. We interviewed women who had had problems, who had had their motherhood prosecuted, the State had intervened to try to take away the custody of their children, and Reprodis had acted in these cases, managing to help them continue raising and living with their children, even independently. On the other hand, we interviewed two mothers whose cases have not been prosecuted, thanks to the support provided by Reprodis”, added the director of DISCA.
Florencia explains that they accompany women with intellectual disabilities “which is a support for autonomy and independence in motherhood, without doing things for them (…) So, being accompanied by Reprodis staff, it means going with someone who is supporting you and gives you the security that you will not be treated badly or you will have someone to translate the complicated language of health professionals,” she added.
“I don’t think there is any other program in Chile, nor probably in Latin America, that provides such effective support as Reprodis, which has allowed mothers with disabilities to raise their children autonomously and independently”, concluded Florencia.
The trip to Punta Arenas was also an opportunity to share with students and academics of the Occupational Therapy career of the Universidad de Magallanes, to present in a class the Fondecyt advances on parental experiences of people with disabilities, Dispar, and DISCA’s line of Sexuality and Reproduction.