Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental condition that affects millions of people worldwide.
It is characterized by difficulties in social interaction, communication, and repetitive behaviors.
Although autism is becoming more widely recognized, there is still a lack of understanding and awareness surrounding the condition.
As a result, many individuals and families affected by autism struggle to find the support and resources they need.
Why Not Me The World podcast aims to bridge that gap by providing valuable information and insights into autism, fostering empathy and understanding, and promoting acceptance and inclusion.
Nashville based Music Producer Tony Mantor explores the remarkable impact his guests make by empowering their voices in spreading awareness about autism and helping break down the barriers of understanding.
Join Mantor and his guests as they delve into the world of autism and mental health to explore topics such as diagnosis, treatment, research, and personal stories.
Together, we can create a more informed and compassionate society for individuals with autism.
Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Tanya's Journey Across Europe for Autism Advocacy and Inclusive Education
Imagine uprooting your life multiple times for the love of your child.
This episode brings you an inspiring narrative of Tanya and her niece Dara, who embarked on a journey from Bulgaria to Belgium in search of better educational opportunities for Tanya's autistic son, Radi.
We hear about the challenges and victories as Tanya relentlessly pursued a nurturing environment for Radin, moving through Slovakia and the Czech Republic before finally settling in Belgium.
Radi's story is a testament to the power of perseverance, music's comforting embrace, and the profound impact of understanding and acceptance in autism education.
We delve into the ways society can better support individuals with autism, exploring the use of AI to create personalized educational content and the need for more inclusivity in public spaces.
Alongside Tanya's story, we discuss broader societal shifts necessary for meaningful change, from offering job opportunities to autistic individuals to fostering a more understanding world for everyone.
This episode is a call to action for greater awareness and highlights the podcast's role in connecting families with shared experiences. J
oin us as we celebrate Tanya's advocacy, which not only transformed Radi's life but also inspires a global audience to push for inclusivity.
https://tonymantor.com
https://Facebook.com/tonymantor
https://instagram.com/tonymantor
https://twitter.com/tonymantor
https://youtube.com/tonymantormusic
intro/outro music bed written by T. Wild
Why Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
Welcome to why Not Me, the World Podcast, hosted by Tony Mantor, broadcasting from Music City, usa, nashville, tennessee. Join us as our guests tell us their stories. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry. Their stories Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry. Real life people who will inspire and show that you are not alone in this world. Hopefully, you gain more awareness, acceptance and a better understanding for autism around the world. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to why Not Me? The World. Today, I'm joined by Tanya and her niece Dara, who share their remarkable journey from Bulgaria across Europe, culminating in their relocation to Belgium with her autistic son Roddy. They initially reached out to me via Instagram to share their experiences traveling across Europe while listening to my podcast. It's an absolute pleasure to have them as a guest on today's episode. Welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you, honey. Thank you for inviting us.
Speaker 1:It's my pleasure. You traveled all the way from Bulgaria to Belgium for your son. Tell us a little bit about him, if you would.
Speaker 3:My son, radin, now is 30 years old. When he was born, everything was good with him, but when he was older we noticed something was different. What does mean? His vocabulary was very small, he avoided other children and he was often quiet. He didn't talk much and he didn't like playing with other kids. He liked doing the same things over and over, like opening and closing a door, over and over like opening and closing a door. And while Radi didn't talk much, he pointed to things he wanted, which helped us understand him.
Speaker 1:As he got older, did he get to the point where he started to talk more. How did that work out?
Speaker 3:Slowly with therapy, he started using but some words. By the time he was 10, he couldn't repeat a few phrases. We took him to doctors but they didn't know what was wrong exactly. Those early years were very hard for us family because autism wasn't well understood and in Bulgaria there weren't many resources to help the children not only Radi and as a teacher because my profession is a teacher I felt helpless, unable to provide the support my son. Even in the school where I worked as a principal, my colleagues had no experience with teaching autistic children.
Speaker 3:Again, I want to remind before 30 years, when Rade was about 10, we learned that he had a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. We were surprised, of course, but it made sense. In this time I started looking for help, but there weren't many places in Bulgaria that could help children like Radi. I am a teacher. I wanted to help my son too much. I wanted to help my son too much. For me, radhi is unique, like all children on the autism spectrum, and looking for better education for him, I started working on projects to create inclusive learning environments for autistic children.
Speaker 1:Did you implement what you were doing into the school system, since that's what you did with teaching?
Speaker 3:I wanted to make schools better for children with autism because in Bulgaria, our teachers, my colleagues, were not prepared to work with children in this period, of course. Now maybe they are prepared Because of my educational project. I visited a lot of countries to learn how they included children of the autism spectrum, and the projects aim to train teachers, improve classrooms and provide support for families, and this experience changed everything for me. They helped me create strategies to support not just Radhi but other children with similar challenges in the school where I was principal. It was really helpful. Radin grew older, but his speech therapy showed only small improvements and school was very difficult for him. He often cried and couldn't stay there for a long time without me, because he wants to be with me, only with me inside.
Speaker 1:With all that happening, what did you have for plans that could help Roddy with his autism?
Speaker 3:Since Bulgaria didn't have enough resources, I decided to look for help abroad. Our first move was to Slovakia, where Radi attended a school for autistic children In Bratislava. We got a diagnosis of atypical autism. Even though he didn't speak Slovak our languages were a little bit similar he started learning some words and used an English-based system there For the first time. My son participated in school activities and spent time away from me. He even joined cultural events with his teachers. He started to learn and make friends. This gave us hope for his future. But when my term as the director of the Bulgarian school in Slovakia ended, we returned to Bulgaria for a short time.
Speaker 3:After discovering there were still no researches for RADi in Bulgaria and RADi was growing up, I decided to move again. What happened in 2016,? We moved to the Czech Republic. I became the principal of the Bulgarian school in Prague, already joined a specialized center for autistic children. This was a turning point for him. He took part in gardening, social activities and practical tasks. He felt very happy and useful, which was very different from before. After Prague, I got the chance to work at a European school in Belgium. Brady here attends an autistic center during the week and stays with us on weekends, because now he's 30 years old already. The center teaches him life skills and routines to help him become more independent. This is very important as we prepare for a future where I may not always be able to care for him.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's definitely a concern for most parents. What kind of changes have you seen for Roddy since you made the move from Bulgaria to Belgium? Has there been anything noticeable that you see as far as the way he handles himself?
Speaker 2:noticeable that you see, as far as the way he handles himself. Yes, so maybe over the past few years he has become noticeably way more calmer and he's more open to exploring new activities. But again, they have to be aligned with his specific interests, which are Mickey Mouse and music. Actually very interesting also for you, tony, is how the historical connection he has with music Actually very interesting. My view also for you, tony, is how the extraordinary connection he has with music it's been evident since when, even when he was very young, he used to take the TV remote and just listen to music channels for hours and hours every day, and when we were in Slovakia he had to before going to school.
Speaker 2:We had to listen to his favorite singer, lady Gaga, at seven o'clock in the morning every day. Better ones, especially better ones. It's obvious how connected he is to the music and how it immediately changes his mood when he listens to it.
Speaker 1:You're Roddy's cousin. What led you to leave Bulgaria, to make the move to Belgium along with them?
Speaker 2:And so in Belgium, first there is from my field of studies there. I think it's the higher quality of education here firstly. And then again I wanted to help my aunt and my cousin and I really have a strong connection with them, so I joined them here and I love spending time with them. So it's been a great experience last year being with them and helping them with whatever I can.
Speaker 1:Now you're a teacher. You have an autistic son. Do you work with other autistic children, teaching them as well as you do, Roddy?
Speaker 3:Yes, I am a teacher and all my life I was a teacher and I was a principal of many schools. But all my life I was working on a project because I wanted to see how the people in different countries working with disabled people, with autistic people. Why? Because it was very important, not only for me like parents, like me a teacher, and like a principal, like educator, because I wanted to know more to help not only for my son and to the other children, to help not only for my son and to the other children, and that is why I like too much my profession and this is important, I think to help the people.
Speaker 1:I think that's great. What kind of changes or differences have you seen since moving to Belgium? What's the difference between Bulgaria and Belgium in the way they work with autistic people?
Speaker 2:Different countries have different ways in incorporating, maybe, the children of the spectrum in school. Some of them use inclusive classrooms, others just tell them that they could be accepted in a center somewhere else divided by the inclusive classrooms. It's every country has been different. In bulgaria it was more the principle of inclusive classroom in the beginning just all the kids would be together.
Speaker 2:But what we consider a little bit was a challenge. That was that there wasn't teachers. There were not prepared enough, they didn't have enough information to handle both autistic and non-autistic kids in the same classroom. So in the global level there is a need for all teachers and all educators and parents to be aware that there could be autistic kids and also non-autistic kids that are together and just to prepare the kids also so they're not, so they don't interact with each other in a stuff like that could impact them for their whole life. Maybe there is there's need to more of communication with them and just a better education for a better project, more projects for educators and teachers or specifically for inclusive classrooms did he have problems with bullying or any situations like that while he was in Bulgaria?
Speaker 1:How did the other kids treat him?
Speaker 2:I think yes, in the beginning he had in Bulgaria. He wasn't really well accepted. The children first with other children. First for the youth. Yes, because he was with other kids.
Speaker 3:Yes, in the beginning he doesn't accept it because he is an autist. He did the same things opening and closing the doors and he was very quiet and the children were not prepared was not prepared. He wanted too much to play with the other children but it was not possible. How I told you, in Slovakia, in the Czech Republic and in Belgium, he has this connection, he has friends. That is why I feel very happy and that is why, when I saw that the other people and the children doesn't accept him because he's something different, he's quiet, he did some, something strange, because it was very strange. He he doesn't speak, he doesn't. He did something different from them. They didn't want to play with them.
Speaker 3:That is why my son was not happy and I wanted to change my life and I changed my life, all my life and travel with him, and I left my country and I told you what I did with me and all my family not with all my family, because I have a daughter, my daughter. This is Radhi's sister. She's five years older than him, she's not autistic and she's studying in Bulgaria and she supports him. She's not autistic and she's still in Bulgaria and she supports him. She supports me, but she's in Bulgaria.
Speaker 1:So did you leave behind a large family? How did that work, with you leaving Bulgaria to move to Belgium because ultimately you thought it would help Roddy? How did that work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have partially most of our families in Bulgaria, but we are here in Belgium mostly because so he could have the center and he could live there and he could be happy. That's the whole idea. But of course, not all the family can move to Belgium. The bedroom and they're still good in Bulgaria. For example, his sister, she's married and she's happy there, so we actually move here to be with him.
Speaker 1:Do you get a chance to get back to Bulgaria from time to see your family? If you do, how does the interaction go since you moved and how does Radia get to see and be with relatives?
Speaker 3:Usually, yes, we moved to Bulgaria because Radia should be see him father or him, another part of our relatives. But it was easy when he was younger, maybe when we were in Slovakia, but when he was an adult, something what I mean? Some maybe not him behavior, but the people maybe didn't accept yet autistic people. Because we had some problem with airports when I wanted to be with Radhi in Antalya last summer and I had some delay Eight hours delay, eight hours and can you imagine what happened with Radhi? Nobody told us what happened. When our plane will be ready for flight. Radhi was crying. We cannot stand up from our chairs.
Speaker 2:It was too crowded. There were people around us. They were angry because of this delay, so we couldn't move from our seats. We were so stressed. We tried to give him music to listen. Of course we gave him games, but we had to explain somehow. But he didn't understand. In some situations like that, when we have to wait, he doesn't understand why we have to wait. It's a big challenge, but actually what's interesting is the way we managed to go through that.
Speaker 3:Yes, because it was a very big stress, not only for Ragi and for me too. That is why I think that in public places, we need more understanding from the people, not only from the people around us. Maybe this company should be thinking about this that there are a lot of different people not autistic, but disabled people that need some places that we can go there to stay for a little not to stay with the other people a little, not to stay with the other people that the places are very noisy, that they are not comfortable for disabled child or adults Because, for example, supermarkets are the same. We need some quieter checkout areas. Airports could have special camp spaces for families with kids, who need this peace. Understand me, these small changes would make a big difference for us, Because you can't always tell if someone has autism. Radi looks like any other kid. We need to teach people that kids with autism should be accepted. That's why we started, for example, an Instagram account and we share our story to help others understand.
Speaker 2:This is where we share actually how we go through all those challenges Like breaches. How we managed to make him now he is able actually to walk on breaches. How we make manage to make him now he is able actually to walk on breaches all by himself and for the airports. The way we were holding his hand, we were talking to him about how we will land and all these little techniques that we have with the time. We share them.
Speaker 1:There at least, my source at is in germany yeah, exactly, and I think that your travels from Bulgaria to now into Belgium. I think that's really good that you've built that kind of following, but also that you've built a good life, getting along really well and things are getting better.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly, we're working on different techniques.
Speaker 2:Even lately I've started, since I'm doing a master's in business engineering and it's on implementation of AI in education.
Speaker 2:I've started since I'm doing a master's in business engineering and it's on implementation of AI in education. I've been working on creating different activities that would be aligned for people on the autistic spectrum, because everyone is unique, so there's no unique fairytale or unique game that you could could buy and it could be suitable for everyone. So I started generating ideas of how we could create stories or fairy tales that would be designed specifically on the interests of each child on the spectrum, and that's how we started creating stories for Rani bedtime stories for him that would be specifically on mouses, lady Gaga and his favorite food, and it was a great success, actually, and afterwards I also started creating games, again using AI, based on his interests, a little bit like Monopoly, but with mouses and Lady Gaga. So it could be a good idea for parents out there who are searching for ways to or just what types of games they could buy. They could actually generate games like this or stories that could be suitable for the level of understanding of their child and the games and the interests it has.
Speaker 1:Yes, so are you still in school doing this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm still studying, but I'm doing my master's thesis right now, so I've been working on a lot of different projects that would be suitable for education and the implementation of AI on this.
Speaker 1:Once you get your master's, then you can go out and get work. Is this what your plans are to help autistic people with your designs?
Speaker 2:I could do that, I could work and do that. I think I will help my aunt with her researches and her projects based on autism, because all those findings that they have, we work with her and we just develop different researches and she even started to write all that in a book about all our journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, good, how far along are you in the book? Yes, we started from the beginning, from the beginning, all our journey. Yeah, good, how far along are you in the book?
Speaker 2:Yes, we started from the beginning, from the beginning of our journey and Bulgaria, all the different countries that we've been, how different challenges and how we went to them. And then second part will be some activities that the researchers that we are right now doing on AI. This will be just as ideas for parents out there who are searching for inspiration for how to interact with their kids.
Speaker 1:That's good. What would you like to tell people that are listening to this, that might be in Europe or wherever they might be? What would you like to tell them so that they can have a good feeling that things can go better and they can still move forward? Can?
Speaker 3:have a good feeling that things can go better and they can still move forward. What I really want is for everyone to understand and accept people with autism. I hope this podcast can help people understand and inspire them to make a difference. The more people know about autism, the better we can understand each other. It will be good if big companies support people with autism by giving them jobs. They have the power to make big differences in their lives. This support can be in their workplaces or even in their advertisements.
Speaker 3:But this is not just about jobs. It's about making the whole world more inclusive. We need to be kind and understanding to everyone. By working together, we can create a future with people with autism and respect it and support it. This is what I want and I know that you did this with your podcast and I thank you so much that you opened with this podcast and you helped too much all people that have families Help too much all people that have families and you help me like a mother and you support me with your podcast. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:It's been awesome. I really appreciate listening to your journey and everything that you've done from Bulgaria to Belgium. So thanks again, belgium. So thanks again Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to listen to our show today. We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. If you know anyone that would like to tell us their story, send them to TonyMantorcom Contact Then they can give us their information so one day they may be a guest on our show. One more thing we ask Tell everyone everywhere about why Not Me, the world, the conversations we're having and the inspiration our guests give to everyone everywhere that you are not alone in this world.