Of lettuce and hot air....

Emily Slater has autism. Like most people on the autistic spectrum, she has significant difficulty in learning more than one language. And this shows in her exam results…while she struggles with her Maltese O-Level, she has satisfied all the other entry criteria. Last week, Emily took her case to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Obviously, this made the news, and fuelled plenty of facebook debate.

There were all sorts of comments and opinions, ranging from the insensitive to the plain stupid….

Let’s get a few facts straight.

Malta is a bilingual country. Both Maltese and English are the official languages of the country. Having said that, English is the lingua franca in many countries of the world. Our bilingualism comes as much from financial expediency as from our time under British rule.

The Maltese language with its very specific niche is what is truly our own. I live close to one of the world’s most multi-cultural cities. Any time, any day you can hear different languages, different accents ..and yet, I repeatedly get asked, often by strangers, to describe Maltese as ‘it is different from any other language’.

The fact that as a nation, many of us fail to perceive the uniqueness of our language is a great shame. So yes, I do understand the initial indignation expressed by some.

But….

This is not a story about national pride or about our language. A sarcastic round of applause to the media who depicted it as such!!

This is not about doing away with the Maltese language. This is about a young person with a learning issue, and about working around that issue for her to achieve her potential. This is about inclusion.

It is about questioning the established patterns, things which have been that way forever..

We are a bilingual country, so why can’t we have either one language or the other in cases like this?

If University feels strongly about keeping Maltese as an entry requirement (as it should, after all) why is it that foreign students applying to study there are excused from knowing Maltese? Anyone who’s ever applied to study at a university in a foreign country knows that prospective students are asked to demonstrate competence in the language of the country. The books in university libraries abroad are usually in the local language.

Why do our students not have suitable textbooks in Maltese? Why does English persist as the language of Physics, Chemistry, ICT, Psychology?  Indeed, this is the case with most subjects from senior school right up to university level.

I am all for cherishing our unique language… but sadly, there is no logic to having Maltese as a university entry requirement. Beyond maybe an obvious and rather ham-fisted attempt to give some dignity to something that should be a matter of national pride, but is often treated like a poor relation.

This is a story about inclusion (and in this case, the lack thereof). And sadly, this is not limited to this particular case. How is a student with ADHD supposed to succeed in an education system that is based on cramming, long hours of studying and rote-learning? Make no mistake, for all its wheelchair ramps and notices in Braille, university is far from inclusive.

Invisible disabilities are still disabilities, and when people with such conditions work hard to overcome obstacles, they should not be punished by a system whose inclusiveness only extends to visible disabilities.

Emily has been to Strasbourg to protest over what she justly perceives as an infringement of her right to continuing her education. Hopefully, things will move in the right direction now and adequate concessions will be made, not just for her, but also for future prospective students with invisible disabilities.

As to what will happen after she does graduate is a story for another day…..