Autism School Denial: Mom Fights for Inclusive Education

TULUM — The case of Juliana Guadalupe Herrera Hernández, the mother of a girl with autism, has generated outrage on social media after she reported alleged acts of discrimination at a public school in Tulum, where her daughter was denied enrollment despite the official system reporting available spots.

The mother recounted that she decided to withdraw her daughter from a previous institution because the teacher kept her distracted with a cell phone and labeled her as an aggressive child, without understanding her medical condition. "My daughter is not aggressive; she has autism and other conditions that require understanding and specialized attention. From the moment she arrived, they treated her as if she were a problem," Herrera Hernández stated.

Seeking a more suitable environment, she went to the Secretary of Education to process the re-enrollment, where she was informed she had to do it directly at a school with available capacity. She then went to the Gregorio Pérez primary school, which, according to the digital "Padres en Línea" platform, showed seven vacant spots. However, upon presenting herself at the school, the principal denied the enrollment.

"He told me there was no space and that they did not have support for special education there. I explained that my daughter has a disability, but he was adamant: there is no space and we cannot accept her," Herrera Hernández relayed.

Faced with the refusal, she went to the school supervisor, identified as Professor Ariel, to file a complaint. "They did not even let me present the complaint. They told me I had to follow a guideline, but what guideline justifies denying an education to a girl with a disability?" she questioned.

Juliana emphasized that her experience is not an isolated case. "We are many mothers with autistic children who live through the same thing. There are no shadow teachers, the CAMs do not accept us, and the regular schools close their doors to us. They demand that the children adapt, but the system does not adapt to them," she stated.

Subsequently, the mother went to the Tulum school in the Sub-Centro neighborhood, where the principal accepted to enroll the girl without obstacles. "She told me that on Tuesday we should present ourselves to see the classroom and figure out how to adapt. That is the difference between excluding and having empathy," she affirmed.

Herrera Hernández called on the educational authorities of Quintana Roo to address the matter and guarantee access to an inclusive education. "Denying a child with a disability the right to study is discrimination. It was not only my daughter who was rejected; we are many families who are still waiting to be heard."