Belgian-Moroccan Woman Shares Struggle with Misplaced Special Education Diagnosis

"My mother, who comes from Morocco, got married and came here not speaking French. I had a slight speech delay. The director of the nursery school told my mother: ’Your daughter, she has a problem, she has a problem. She is not like the other children, there is a language problem, she is not speaking yet, she is six years old...’ He came with a document which means that your child will be placed in specialized ’type 1, form 3’. My mother said: ’Listen, if it’s the best school for her, I’m in.’ But my mother was not at all informed about this document and she signed it," Doha recounts to RTBF.

She therefore grew up in a school where there were people fleeing their country. "They were arriving in Belgium, they were refugees, in fact. Yes, there is a majority. All my friends who are in specialized, the mothers don’t speak French. A mother coming from Turkey? So we put them there. [...] For primary school, it was a campsite. It was fun, going to recess and I didn’t realize that it wasn’t my place there." Doha continued her secondary education in special education. She started theater classes outside of school and it was during this period that she realized that something was wrong.

"In fact, during my primary and secondary education, I didn’t learn anything. I’m stuck." The young woman then questions the PMS (Psycho-Medico-Social Center) of her school: "What are my problems? Why am I here? Why am I not in vocational or general like other young people my age?" In the absence of a concrete answer, she then decides to reconstruct her entire file. She tries to understand her difficulties and catch up on her delay. While waiting to receive the results, Doha has resumed art studies in vocational education. She is also involved in community life and manages many projects.

"Instead of crying over my fate, I have to get up to help others who are in the same case," she says. Doha’s wish is that support in specialized education changes. "The framework of specialized type 1, form 3 is not well taught. (...) They consider us the last of society: those who will later end up at the CPAS or unemployed. That’s not me!" she explains.