Isabel Bonello has gone from not wanting to attend a meeting for intellectually-disabled people seven years ago to being the first Maltese person with such a disability to present a paper abroad.
A guest-lecturer at the Disability Studies Unit, Ms Bonello has an intellectual disability caused by what is known as dopa-responsive dystonia, a disorder that causes the muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily.
As a girl she could not even walk but with the support of people who believe in her she overcame the challenges and received post-secondary education and has now been working with the National Commission Persons with Disability for almost a year. And it was at the commission that, in 2007, she met Anne-Marie Callus, now lecturer at the Faculty for Social Well-being. Together they have carried out research about relationships and sexuality and this summer wrote a paper called ‘Inclusive research – a stepping stone on the road to empowerment’, which they presented at the University of Lancaster.
I learnt that we should not give up. If something appears difficult, you should continue trying and if you need help, you ask for it
The paper is a breath of fresh air because the format is not as rigid as other academic papers. The structure has been adapted for 24-year-old Ms Bonello.
“Just as we make physical alterations for someone with a physical disability, we can make changes to the way that content is provided by someone with an intellectual disability,” Dr Callus told the newspaper.
“This is a way of making academia accessible to people with intellectual disability who can give a valid contribution to research. So while I took care of the structure of the paper, Ms Bonello came up with the content on her own,” Dr Callus added.
In the paper, Ms Bonello says she might need someone to explain a job that she finds difficult but, once she understands her role, she performs it well.
She also refers to the KNPD committee that she was initially reluctant to join. There she learnt how to draw up an agenda, write minutes and share responsibilities within a team.
“I learnt that we should not give up. If something appears difficult, you should continue trying and if you need help, you ask for it,” she says.
She argues that it is important for society to learn more about disabled people so she is now doing her own studies. She would like to carry out research about work and friends “because many people with intellectual disability do not have many friends”.
In the meantime, Ms Bonello will continue to take part in lectures at the University of Malta because it is important for non-disabled people to hear those with intellectual disabilities, she says.
“I have learnt to give people with intellectual disability the chance to have their say. There were times when I did not give them a chance because I spoke too much... I learnt to do interviews and meetings with people with intellectual disability as co-researchers,” Dr Callus adds in the paper.