Watch: 13-Year-Old Beppe Shares His Story With The Hope To Challenge Society’s Attitude
13-year-old Beppe Caruana, who is on the autism spectrum and unable to speak, is hoping to challenge society’s attitudes towards his disorder by sharing his personal story.
“Where do I begin? One word comes to mind: complicated! I was always judged and called names such as ‘ċaflangu’ (weird) or ‘hyper’… all to my face as if I didn’t exist,” Beppe says in the video, accompanied by his parents Olivia and Joseph.
This video has been specifically designed with middle school students in mind and has already been shared with 1,123 students during 45 workshops across state, church and independent schools across the Maltese islands. The students’ feedback clearly shows that the video is reaching its objectives, sparking curiosity and further discussions.
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“Dan Jien”, which forms part of a national campaign, was coordinated by The Malta Trust Foundation chair Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, and launched yesterday in the presence of Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela, Education Minister Clifton Grima and Inclusion Minister Julia Farrugia.
Using his tailor-made augmentative device to express himself, Caruana has also written five children’s books and has been endorsed Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca.
Coleiro Preca expressed how “This video is a strong appeal for action. It’s a manifesto of encouragement that inclusion is not a buzzword, that effective inclusion is appreciating that everyone has a right to voice their thoughts, even when they’re unable to speak.”
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