At the end of his compulsory secondary education, Rafael Calderón was told that he wasn’t able to learn more. Now he has become the first Spanish person with Down Syndrome to obtain a professional degree in Music.
Rafael Calderón is a Spanish musician
with an intellectual disability.
He has Down Syndrome.
When he was at his secondary school,
he was told that he couldn’t learn more.
Now he has received a degree in Music.
With our new campaign, we want to raise awareness about ongoing discrimination of students with intellectual disabilities, and get a discussion going on how we can make inclusive education happen everywhere in Europe!
The term is beginning all over Europe, and yet many children and teenagers with intellectual disabilities don't have the right to go to school as other pupils.
Recently José Smits, Inclusion Europe's Secretary General and founder of Inclusie Nederland, was asked to participate in a conference about early intervention in Leipzig, Germany, by the European organisation Earlyaid. She went to talk about the importance of early intervention and to warn that austerity measures has led to a decline in services being offered to families.