Canary Islands will start building this year the first four houses of the Archipelago aimed at improving social inclusion of up to twenty adults with autism on the island. A resource that has been requested for years and that “will help people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to project their lives in another way, since it promotes personal autonomy and training for employment”, as Pedro Martín, president of the Cabildo de Tenerife – institution that will bear the costs of the work, after announcing the tender this year for the construction on land “which has already been made available by the Government of the Canary Islands”.
The news caused a general ovation in the public that attended the act of commemoration of the World Day of the Autistic Spectrum -which is celebrated on April 2- which was held at the Apanate headquarters in La Laguna. It is not surprising, since family members and people with autism spectrum disorder have been waiting for this resource for almost 15 years.
It is a project proposed and designed by the families of Apanate in 2008
It is a project proposed and designed by the Canarian Association of Autism Spectrum Disorder (Apanate) and the families that make it up in 2008, due to the urgent needs for social inclusion suffered by people who had grown older within the association. as well as their parents, who did not know that they were afraid to abandon them to their fate when they were gone. The project faced several obstacles that delayed it until in In 2018, an agreement was signed for the first time with the Cabildo de Tenerife in which it undertook to finance the project. The pandemic returned suppose a delay but, four years after the signing, the dream of those parents committed to caring for their children is closer to being fulfilled.
In the Canary Islands it has been understood that these housing resources are a very urgent to meet the demands of the group of people with disabilities. An example of this is found in associations such as Tenerife’s Probosco for people with disabilities or the Association of People with Disabilities in Lanzarote (Adislan), who have had this type of housing for years, as well as supervised flats.
“Today we light up the town hall in blue, which is a symbol of support, but today it is more important because work has begun to carry out this pharaonic work,” said the mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, during his speech at the act, in which he insisted that “after everything he has experienced”, this is a relief to “make life easier” for people with autistic disorder.
After two years without being able to celebrate the World Day of this disorder, Apanate reopened its doors to relatives, users and politicians to remember the progress that has been made in assisting these people and claim everything that still remains to be done to improve your life.
Apanate has noticed an increase in the number of new cases of autism
On this occasion, under the motto happy journey through life The need to improve the quality of life of people with autistic disorder has been put on the table -in terms of early detection and early attention-, in educational centers, in access to employment and in inclusion in the community with a Independent living construction. These needs take on a new aspect, since in recent years “an increase in cases of autism spectrum disorder” has been noted, as highlighted by the president of Apanate, María del Carmen (Rosi) Díaz, which are a consequence of the improvements in diagnosis but also a warning that more and more resources are needed to guarantee good care.
“Happiness for these people is not only the resources that we can give these people from institutions and social organizations such as Apante, but also the quality of assistance,” highlighted the Deputy Minister of Social Rights, Gemma Martínez Soliño, who announced that from the The Government of the Canary Islands is going to work to “continue increasing resources and investment” to care for this disorder. For her part, the Minister of Social Action of the Cabildo de Tenerife, thanked Apanate for “making known this reality of the people who live it and their families” and highlighted the work that the Administration is doing with the network social support of Insular Ring of Social Policies.
