2019_02_06_tantaka-capacitarse

Last Monday, February 4, the University Museum hosted the first session of "Training to understand disability". The cycle, organized by Tantaka and in which around 500 students participate, celebrates its sixth edition this year.

The lecture, which carried by degree scroll "Let no one tell you that you can not", took to the stage four "champions of life", who told their story in the association DisCamino, created in 2009. "We want anyone with a disability to be able to enjoy the adventure of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage," explained Javier Pitillas, a policeman from Vigo and one of its founders.

"I am a person who sees little, hears little, but talks a lot". This is how Gerardo Fernández, another of the creators of DisCamino, defined himself. Deaf and blind, Fernandez made the Camino de Santiago for the first time in 2009 with Javier Pitillas, who accompanied him on the adventure and with whom he has achieved that the project has 61 co-drivers with functional disabilities and 25 pilots who accompany them.

Also participating in the lecture were Ana Soage, David Gil and Javier Fernández, who suffer from cerebral palsy and are part of the 61 co-drivers that DisCamino has. All of them train three days a week to prepare for the trip they make every year.

Commitment to inclusion, diversity and visibility

"I love DisCamino because when I cycle I can go very fast, and because of the people who support us, of course," explained Ana Soage, who despite her doctor's diagnosis has gone on to become an 8-time Spanish wheelchair slalom champion. Ana joined the association in 2015 when she completed the Ruta de la Plata linking Seville to Santiago. Since then, she has done all the stages of the Vuelta a España in 2016, the stages of the Vuelta de Andalucía in 2017 and last year the Camino Francés and the Vuelta a Cádiz.  

David Gil's case is somewhat different since he is fed through a gastric tube and that is an added difficulty when it comes to doing the Camino. However, David defines himself as a "crazy adventurer" and his motto is that nothing is impossible. "You just have to train hard and put your heart into what you do, even if sometimes you lose your patience," he concluded.

For Javier Fernández his first DisCamino was from Vigo to Santiago, the one that meant the most to him; also because when he arrived he asked the woman who is now his wife to marry him. "It was quite a hard trip, but it was very worth it," he recalled.

To close the lecture, Sofía Collantes, coordinator of Tantaka, thanked the speakers and the more than 400 enrolled in the course. "In Tantaka we make our own the speech of Jesús Vidal, award Goya to the revelation actor 2019, because in this University we are also for inclusion, for diversity and for visibility".