Tony Mantor: Why Not Me ? - Tanya's Journey Across Europe for Autism Advocacy and Inclusive Education

Episode Date: January 1, 2025

Send us a text Imagine uprooting your life multiple times for the love of your child. This episode brings you an inspiring narrative of Tanya and her niece Dara, who embarked on a journey from Bulgaria to Belgium in search of better educational opportunities for Tanya's autistic son, Radi. We hear about the challenges and victories as Tanya relentlessly pursued a nurturing environment for Radin, moving through Slovakia and the Czech Republic before finally settling in Belgium. Radi's story is a testament to the power of perseverance, music's comforting embrace, and the profound impact of understanding and acceptance in autism education. We delve into the ways society can better support individuals with autism, exploring the use of AI to create personalized educational content and the need for more inclusivity in public spaces. Alongside Tanya's story, we discuss broader societal shifts necessary for meaningful change, from offering job opportunities to autistic individuals to fostering a more understanding world for everyone. This episode is a call to action for greater awareness and highlights the podcast's role in connecting families with shared experiences. J oin us as we celebrate Tanya's advocacy, which not only transformed Radi's life but also inspires a global audience to push for inclusivity. https://tonymantor.com https://Facebook.com/tonymantor https://instagram.com/tonymantor https://twitter.com/tonymantor https://youtube.com/tonymantormusic intro/outro music bed written by T. Wild Why Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI) The content on Why Not Me: Embracing Autism amd Mental Health Worldwide, including discussions on mental health, autism, and related topics, is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not reflect those of the podcast, its hosts, or affiliates.Why Not Me is not a medical or mental health professional and does not endorse or verify the accuracy, efficacy, safety of any treatments, programs, or advice discussed.Listeners should consult qualified healthcare professionals, such as licensed therapists, psychologists, or physicians, before making decisions about mental health or autism- related care.Reliance on this podcast's contents is at the listener's own risk. Why Not Me is not liable for any outcomes, financial or otherwise, resulting from actions taken based on the information provided. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Why Not Me The World Podcast, hosted by Tony Mayator. Broadcasting from Music City, USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Join us as our guests tell us their stories. Some will make your laugh, some will make you cry. Real life people who will inspire and show that you are not alone in this world. you gain more awareness, acceptance, and a better understanding for autism around the world. I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Why Not Me the World. Today I'm joined by Tanya and her niece Dara, who share their remarkable journey from Bulgaria across Europe, culminating in their relocation

to Belgium with her autistic son Radi. They initially reached out to me via Instagram to share their experiences traveling across Europe while listening to my mother. my podcast. It's an absolute pleasure to have them as a guest on today's episode. Welcome. Thank you, honey. Thank you for inviting us. It's my pleasure. You traveled all the way from Bulgaria to Belgium for your son. Tell us a little bit about him if you would. My son, Radin, now is 30 years old. When he was born, everything was good with him. But when he was older, we noticed something was different. What does me mean? His vocabulary was very small.

He avoided other children, and he was often quiet. He didn't talk much and he didn't like playing with other kids. He liked doing the same things over and over, like opening and closing a door. And while Radhi didn't talk much, he pointed to things he wanted, which helped us understand him. As he got older, did he get to the point where he started to talk more? How did that work out? Slowly with therapy, he started using but some words. By the time he was 10, he couldn't repeat the puberty.

We took him to doctors, but they didn't know what was wrong exactly. Those early years were very hard for us family. because autism wasn't well understood. And in Bulgaria, there weren't many resources to help the children, not only Radi. And as a teacher, because my profession is a teacher, I felt helpless. Unable to provide the support my son, even in the school where I worked as a principal, my colleagues had no experience with teaching autistic children. Again, I want to remind before 30 years.

When Radi was about 10, we learned that he had a diagnosis, autism spectrum disorder. We were surprised, of course, but it made sense. In this time, I started looking for help, but there weren't many places in Bulgaria that could help children like Radi. I am a teacher. I wanted to help my son too much. For me, Radis is unique, like all children on the autism spectrum. And looking for better education for him, I started working on projects to create inclusive learning environment for autistic children.

Did you implement what you was doing into the school system since that's what you did was teaching? I wanted to make schools better for children with autism because in Bulgaria, our teachers, my colleagues, were not prepared to work with children in this period, of course. Now maybe they are prepared. Because of my educational project, I visited a lot of countries to learn how they included children of the autism spectrum. And the projects aim to train teachers, improve classrooms, and provide support for families. And this experience changed everything for me. They helped me create strategies to support not just Radi, but other children with similar challenges in the school where I was principal. It was really helpful.

Rodi grew older, but his speech therapy showed only small improvements. And school was very difficult for him. He often cried and couldn't stay there for a long time without me because he wants to be with me, only with me, inside. With all that happening, what did you have for plans that could help Roddy with his autism? Since Bulgaria didn't have enough resources, I decided to look for help abroad. Our first news was to Slovakia, where Radi attended a school for autistic children. In Bratislava, we got a diagnosis, a typical autism.

Even though he didn't speak Slovak, our language is a little bit similar, he started learning some words and used an English-based system there. For the first time, my son was participated in school activities and spent time away from me. He even joined cultural events with his teachers. He started to learn and make friends. This gives us hope for his future. But when my term as the director of the Bulgarian school in Slovakia ended,

we returned to Bulgaria for a short time. After discovering there were still no researches for Radi in Bulgaria. And Radi was growing up. I decided to move again. What happened in 2016, we moved to the Czech Republic. I became the principal of the Bulgarian school in Prague, a rather joined a specialised center for autistic children. This was a turning point for him.

He took part in gardening, social activities, and practical tasks. He felt very happy and useful, which was very different from before. After Prague, I got a chance to watch. at a European school in Belgium. Study here attends an autistic center during the week and stays on weekends because now he's 30 years old already. The center teaches him life skills and routines to help him become more independent.

This is very important as we prepare for a future where I may not always be able to keep. care for him. Yes, that's definitely a concern for most parents. What kind of changes have you seen Faradhi since you made the move from Bulgaria to Belgium? Has there been anything noticeable that you see far as the way he handles himself? Yes, so maybe over the past few years, he has become noticeably way more calmer and he's more open to exploring new activities. but again, they have to be aligned with his specific interests, which are Mickey Mouse and music. Actually, very interesting by me also for you, Tony, is how the story reconnection he has with music.

It's been evident since when even when he was very young, he used to take the TV remote and just listen to music channels for hours and hours every day. And when we were in Slovakia, he had to, before going to school, we had to listen to his favorite singer. Lady Gaga at 7 o'clock in the morning every day. Better than that's especially better amount. It's always how connected he is to the music and how it immediately changes his mood when he listens to it. Your Roddy's cousin, what led you to leave Bulgaria to make the move to Belgium along with them?

In Belgium, first, there is from my field of studies. There, I think it's the higher quality of education here. firstly and then again I wanted to help my aunt and my cousin and I really have a strong connection with them so I joined them here and I love spending time with them so it's been a great experience last year's being with them and helping them with whatever I can now you're a teacher you have an autistic son do you work with other autistic children teaching them as well as you do Roddy. Yes, I am a teacher and whole my life I was a teacher and I was a principal of many schools, but all my life I was working on a project because I wanted to see how the people in different

countries working with disabled people, with autistic people. Why? Because it was very important not only for me, like parents, like me, a teacher, and like a principal, like educator, because I wanted to know more to help not only for my son and to the other children. And that is why I like too much my profession, and this is important, I think, to help the people. I think that's great. What kind of changes or differences have you seen since moving to Belgium? What's the difference between Bulgaria and Belgium in the way they work with autistic people? Different countries have different ways in incorporating maybe the children of the spectrum in school. Some of them use inclusive classrooms. Other just tell them that they could be accepted in the center,

somewhere else divided by the inclusive classrooms. So every country has been different. In Bulgaria, it was more the principle of inclusive classrooms. in the beginning, just all the kids would be together. But what we consider a little bit was a challenge that was that there wasn't teachers there were not prepared enough. They didn't have enough information to handle both autistic and non-autistic kids in the same classroom.

So in the global level, there is a need for all teachers and all educators and parents to be aware that there could be autistic kids and also non-autistic kids that are together. and just to prepare the kids also so they're not so they don't interact with each other in stuff like that could impact them for their whole life maybe there is there's need to more of communication with them and just a better education for and better more projects for educators and teachers for specifically for inclusive classrooms did he have problems with bullying or any situations like that while he was in bulgaria how did the other kids treat him In the beginning he had in Bulgaria, he wasn't really well accepted.

The children with other children from first for great, yes, because he was with other kids. Yes, in the beginning he doesn't accept it because he's a autistic. He did the same things, opening and closing the doors and he was very quiet and for the children was not prepared. he wanted too much to play with the other children, but it was not possible. How I told you in Slovakia, in the Czech Republic and in Belgium, he has this connection. He has friends. That is why I feel very happy. And that is why when I saw that the other people,

and the children doesn't accept him because he's something different. He is quiet. He did something strange because it was very strange. He doesn't speak. He did something different from them. They didn't want to play with them. That is why my son was not happy. And I wanted to change my life and I changed my life all my life

and travel with him and I left my country. And I told you what I did with me and all my family, not with all my family because I have a daughter. My daughter, this is a sister. She's five years older than him. She's not autistic. And she's studying in Bulgaria. And she supports him.

She support me. But she's in Bulgaria. Yeah, she's family here. So did you leave behind a large family? How did that work with you leaving Bulgaria to move to Belgium? Because ultimately you thought it would help Roddy. How did that work? Yeah, we have partially most of our families in Bulgaria,

but we are here in Belgium mostly because he could have the center and he could leave there and he could be happy. that's the whole idea. But of course, not all the family can move to share the Belgium and they feel good in Bulgaria or the, for example, his sister, she's married and she's happy there.

So we'll ask me who's here to be with him. Do you get a chance to get back to Bulgaria from time to see your family? If you do, how does the interaction go since you moved and how does Rodi get

to see and be with relatives? Usually, yes, we moved to Bulgaria because Radia should be see him father or him another part of our relatives. But it was easy when he was younger, maybe when we were in Slovakia. But when he was adult, something, what I mean, some maybe. not him behavior, but the people maybe didn't accept yet autistic people. Because we had some problem with airports when I wanted to be with Radi in Ontario last summer and I had some delay.

Eight hours late. And can you imagine what happened with Radi? Nobody told us what happened when our plane will be regularly. for flight, radio was cried. We cannot stand up from our chairs. It was too crowded. So there are people around us. They are angry because of this delay.

So we couldn't move from our seats. He was so stressed. We tried to give him music to listen. Of course, we gave him games, but we had to explain somehow, but he doesn't understand. In some situations like that, when we have to wait, it doesn't understand why we have to wait.

It's a big challenge. But actually, right, be interesting. It's how the way we managed to go through that. Yes, because it was a very big stress not only for Radi and for me too. That is why I think that in the public places, we need more understanding from the people, not only from the people around us. Maybe this company should be a thing about this that there are a lot of different people, not autistic, but disabled people that need

of some calm places that we can go there to be, to stay for a little, not to stay with the other people that the places are very noisy, that they are not comfortable for disabled child or adults. Because, for example, supermarkets, the same, We need some quieter checkout areas. Airport could be have special camps places for families with kids who need this peace, understand me.

This small changes would make a big difference for us. Because you can't always tell if someone has autism. Radhi looks like any other kids. We need to teach people that. kids with autism should be accepted. That's why we started, for example, on Instagram account and we share our story to help others understand. This is where we share actually, how we go through all those challenges, like breaches, how we manage to make him, now he is able to walk on bridges or by himself. And for the airports,

the way we were holding his hand, we were talking to him about how we will land. And all these little techniques that we have with the time, we share them there with my soul service in Germany. Exactly, exactly. And I think that your travels from Bulgaria to now into Belgium, I think that's really good that you've built that kind of following, but also that you've built a good life, getting along really well and things are getting better. Yes, exactly. We're working on different techniques. Even lately, I've started since I'm doing a master's in business engineering and it's on implementation of AI in education. I've been working on different, creating different activities that would be aligned for people

on the autistic spectrum because, you know, everyone is unique. So there is no, there's no unique fairy tale or unique game that you could buy and it could be suitable for everyone. So I started generating ideas of how we could create stories or fend tales that would be designed specifically on the interests of each child on the stretch room. I started creating stories for Radi, bedtime stories for him, that would be specifically on Mouses, Lady Gaga, and his favorite food. And it was a great success, actually.

And afterwards, I also started creating games, again on using AI, based on his interests, a little bit like Monopoly, but with Mouses and Lady Gaga. So it could be a good idea for parents out there who are searching for ways to or just to what types of games they could buy, they could say that they could actually generate games like these or stories that could be suitable for the level of understanding of their child and the games that are the interest in tests?

Yes, so are you still in school doing this? Yeah, I'm still studying, but I'm doing my master's right now, so I've been working on all the different projects that would be suitable for education and the implementation of AI on this. Once you get your master's, then you can go out and get work. Is this what your plans are to help autistic people with your designs? I could do that. I could work and do that.

I think I will help my aunt with her researches and her projects based on autism because all those findings that they have, we work with her. And we just developed different researchers. And she even started to write all that in a book about all our journey. Yeah, good. How far along are you in the book? Yes, we started from the beginning of our journey and Bulgarian, all the different countries that we've been, how different challenges and how we went to them.

And then the second part will be some activities that research is that we are right now doing on AI. This will be just as ideas for parents out there who are searching for inspiration, for how to direct to their kids. That's good. What would you like to tell people that are listening to this that might be in Europe or wherever they might be? What would you like to tell them so that they can have a good feeling that things can go better and they can still move forward? What I really want is for everyone to understand and accept people with autism. I hope this podcast can help people understand and inspire them to make people.

difference. The more people know about autism, the better we can understand each other. It will be good if big companies support people with autism by giving them jobs. They have the power to make big differences in their lives. This support can be in their workplaces or even in their advertisements. But this is not just about jobs. It's about making. It's about making the whole world's more inclusive. We need to be kind and understanding to everyone by working together. We can create a future with people with autism and respect it and support it. This is that I want and I know that you did this with your podcast and I thank you so much

that you open with this podcast and you help too much. or people that have some families and you help me like a mother and you support me with your podcast. Thank you so much. It's been awesome. I really appreciate listening to your journey and everything that you've done from Bulgaria to Belgium. So thanks again. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to listen to our show today. We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed. it to you. If you know anyone that would like to tell us their story, send them to tonymentor.com, contact, then they can give us their information so one day they may be a guest on our show.

One more thing we ask, tell everyone, everywhere, about why not me, the world, the conversations we're having and the inspiration our guests give to everyone. everywhere that you are not alone in this world.