The handicap and polyhandicap were touched me, really. Disabled child is one we don’t want to see, we avoid, because that touch us something indefinable. In « physical » term, we don’t want to see it because it’s not in the norm. It is scares us, it is impressive. Rather than share what we do not have, combine our singularity, we prefer to put a veil on it.
A lot of people say me, when i talk about my job with an autism teenager or my intership experience with child and teenagers in a situation of handicap : « I do not know how you do it, I could not… » , « it must be hard… » , « but they don’t talk ? How do you do to communicate, so ?”
What is hard, it is not the handicap, but that we see. It is our closure to other because it is different, because we don’t understand it. And, if they don’t talk, it is not a words problem. Gestures and look can be much more meaningful. I answer to those who question : yes, they talk, and a lot ! The emotion speak to us. Laughter during activities, smiles when they arrive, corporal excitation, silent crying… so many signs given to us. And maybe it is so hard because we only know how to communicate through language. As a psychologist, we need to adapt to these singularities and to give the child the opportunity to open up to the environment.
What say about this year ? Probably the most rewarding part of my career at this time. Upsetting, in this emotional encounter. I was learned, same as this intership, my personal ans professional experiences to open myself to what makes me barrier. I understood that silence has an invaluable value : it gives to the emotional and corporal the place that language sometimes dispossesses them.
But not only children were touched me. It is also families, in their amazing speeches. What about their courage, their kindness and what they sometimes call a « fight ». What about their dédication, to allow their child to flourish and develop in good conditions. I admire them. But i admire too the professionals, invested and passionates, who support the child in his undeniable potential. Those who support but always respect : respect for the body and the mind. Because, as the name our practice repository : « respect for the person in his psychic dimension is an inalienable right. His recognition founds the action of psychologists » (code of ethics of psychologists, 2012).
Words learned :
-impressive : impressionant
-upsetting : bouleversant
-dispossess : dépossède
-dédication : dévouement
-practice repository : référentiel de pratique
Lisa DOUTE