It was already public knowledge. Now it is public knowledge through institutional channels (CES – Economic and Social Council of the Azores). Not that the second piece of information is more relevant than the first, but the truth is that it is more difficult to deny. And this is relevant because we live in a society where half the world seeks to deny the abuses it commits by betting on impunity and on journalism’s inability to investigate, which is real and due to a scarcity of resources at all levels. What is public knowledge? That disabled people are not treated in IPSS (Private Social Solidarity Institutions) as they deserve and as they are entitled to. And why? Mainly because there is a shortage of nurses, speech therapists, occupational therapists, and other rehabilitation technicians. In truth, in many circumstances, we live in a kind of make-believe world. In this case, it is difficult to imagine how people with disabilities are rehabilitated without the professionals who have the essential skills.

There is no question as to whether disabled people are treated well or badly in human terms. We have no doubt that they are well treated. At least that. The problem is that progress does not happen without specialized support. The result is that centers that should be “high-performance” for those with problems are more like human warehouses. And that is very bad. We also hear reports of so-called inclusion processes in education that are nothing more than a jumble of students, some said to be normal and others disabled, without the proper supervision of those with so-called special educational needs. The result is very simple. The so-called disabled do not progress in their process towards a possible recovery, and the so-called normal often do not learn because the teacher-educator has an impossible choice in the classroom. Should they focus on some? Should they focus on others? Should they go crazy and take sick leave (the so-called “burnout”) after trying everything and obviously failing? Or, “smart option,” should they hand over the disabled to assistants and let God decide? This issue cannot continue to be scrutinized, and everyone would probably benefit if the CES, within the scope of its “Common Agenda,” undertook to dissect this situation, probably to provide institutional coverage for what has been in the public domain for too long.

We have been living in a swamp of make-believe for too long. Perhaps the time has come to accept what we must and do what we can. Not providing what disabled people need is more than bad. Moving towards inclusion in schools—an option with which we agree—and then throwing an impossible equation into the classroom, with negative impacts so severe that they are difficult to imagine, is criminal and has serious consequences for the future of generations. And all this is immensely cheaper than satisfying megalomaniacal and centralist delusions!