EVZ. CAMPAIGN One inhabitant of Timisoara city diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders managed to be hired and participate to festivals thanks to the care and implication of the Foundation „Pentru Voi”.
„Autism is a development disorder of neurobiological origin and it is considered one of the most severe neural-psychiatric disorders of childhood”, states the medical dictionary. Searching for its causes, there is a blank space. Some sort of an „unknown author” that specialists are striving to discover. Tavi Drăguşan, a 40 years old man from Timişoara, is not the kind of person that you could easily describe as having any sort of “disorders”.
He is sociable, he has normal hobbies, and he is working. Since 2007, he has been employee of a protected unit „Pentru Voi”, being the first person with autism in Romania who, help and patience given, managed to take this step.
He sorts and numbers plastic bags for a company from his native town. Part of the money he earns he puts aside, because he wants to travel a lot and then to tell people around him about the wonderful things he saw. He wants to buy gifts for the people he is fond of. He is sociable, which is in contradiction with the classical definition of his illness. He wants to sing, and he even does that while he is working.
He went farther with his passion: he followed the courses of Folk Art School in Timişoara, canto section. „I don’t like any kind of music, I like old, authentic music that is being played in the villages”, Tavi explains.He is now part of the Vocal-Instrumental Group „Pentru Voi”. Together with his colleagues, he participated to the competition Eurovision for intellectually disabled persons, organized in Portugal. They also participated to international festivals in Hungary, at Pecs and Debrecen. In Portugal he occupied the second place. He felt very at ease on the stage and the audience felt that: he spoke with the audience in Portuguese. Tavi communicates in about ten foreign languages: he known to say hello – at least – in all of them.
With help, his successes may increase
Tavi has been getting help from the Foundation „Pentru Voi” since 1997. „All these accomplishments are mainly due to the education received in the family, above all to his mother close attention, sharing a special relationship with her. As he is the only man in the house, he has clear attributions that he joyfully undertakes: he is in charge with the shopping, he brings water, helps with the housekeeping tasks”, state the specialists of the Foundation. They all agree that success stories like Tavi’s would significantly increase if only authorities cared to prioritize autism. Political deciders yet prefer, for the time being, to leave things on the shoulders of disabled persons’ families. And this should really put us thinking.
„Tavi is very sociable, he easily adjusts and spontaneously interacts with people around him. He fragmentary speaks ten languages.”