"The warmest wave!", celebrates a dad as soon as he sees the sea line in front, as he descends through Alvear towards the coast. "Look, Santi, the sea," he surprises him: the postcard of Mar del Plata, with a clear sky, is clearly reflected in the boy's mirrored glasses. The same surprise is expressed by those who witness the passage of what they themselves call
"the blue tide"
, cyclists riding in tandem, on double bikes, in this case more than in any other, multipurpose bikes: pedal in front mom, dad, a Uncle, a friend,
a disabled person
pedals in the second seat
.
There are many of them, and they smile as they advance along the winding coast of the city in the first "Blue Tour", organized in the context of Blue Week by the civil association Pushing Limits, which promotes and makes efforts to facilitate the use of the tandem as a tool for therapies for those who suffer from a disability.
Blue Week includes
seven days dedicated to talking about autism
, on social networks, in the media, in companies and at home, at family tables and thus making visible a problem that grows year after year: according to international prevalence,
1 in every 36 children have a diagnosis of ASD
(Autism Spectrum Disorder), when in 2000 the prevalence was 1 in 150, which shows a growth of 317% in 20 years. Some scientists are already daring to define this situation as a pandemic.
Among the multiple activities organized to promote the dissemination and talk about
neurodiversity
, such as the Seminar "Looks that connect", organized by the TEActiva Civil association, from Mar del Plata the NGO Pushing Límites promoted a
bicycle ride in four stages of 100 kilometers
, heading to the city of Buenos Aires.
Quite a journey to arrive on Tuesday to the meeting that is now traditional, another of the powerful activities of Blue Week, organized by TGD Padres TEA Grupo Promotor and which brings together many autism families, in Plaza Vaticano, next to the Teatro Colón. It will be at 3pm next Tuesday, when
World Autism Awareness Day
is celebrated . That day
the band "Iván and his friends"
, led by Iván Demirci, a young man diagnosed with ASD, will give a recital.
The bike ride began in Mar del Plata and will have three stops before arriving in Buenos Aires. Photo: Gabriel Bulacio
Juan Zemborain, founder of Pushing Limits, and Santi, his 21-year-old son, are owners of a contagious story, they traveled together in tandem more than 25 thousand kilometers, and from the civil association they have managed to
donate 30 of these bicycles
(donation with charge , "that it is a responsibility, that they use it, that they wear a helmet, that they share it, that they enjoy it and promote its use"), and today they deal with manufacturing and importing companies to incorporate tandems into the market.
"We told our story, and by telling it, many made it their own," Zemborain tells Clarín
moments before the game
. "And they began to ask us how to get tandems, there are those who even welded two bicycles to make one. But it is not the same, because they end up being heavy, because they are made of steel, they weigh 30 kilos, and a mother, for example, with her son with Down Syndrome, walks two blocks and tells you that it was nice"
"But with an aluminum bicycle, which is 18 kilos, this can become a lifestyle, success really is in the habit," he explains.
Horacio Soto and his nephew Tomás Alvarez, 19, have it, who came from Merlo to return pedaling. The young man is the son of Horacio's sister. "I'm Clara's son, I'm 19," Tomás introduces himself; He was diagnosed with autism when he was 3 years old, the age when his uncle gave him a bicycle with wheels.
"We share a lot, he is happy in the back, he loves to go out. In Buenos Aires we make rural roads, he likes the countryside, nature. We met the NGO a long time ago and we joined," he comments.
The cyclists had breakfast in the patio of Golden Bike, a bicycle shop in the Güemes area of Mar del Plata that was the starting point. The ambassador of the house, the athlete Corina Butti, who has just won the Desafío de Atacama, an event in which she rode at 5,700 meters above sea level, accompanies them at the start.
The bicycle ride is one of the activities within the framework of Blue Week. Photo: Gabriel Bulacio
A group of blind people from Mar del Plata from the Guías a la Par association also joined in to accompany the start. The NGO tandem is guided by journalist Javier Teti. Another journalist, Marcos Folgar, who is not sighted, travels with him. "We show how a person with a disability can do many actions, it's about raising awareness by doing," he says.
Cintia Midón and her son Ramiro Irure, 22, who has autism, are from Quequén, runners and swimmers: "What we do is seek enjoyment through sport, connecting with what we both like. We all love it. Things happen, it is important to recognize ourselves, start from what we are, it is no longer him with autism, we are
a family with autism, our life is crossed by that
, with what are needs and what has to do with how we connect with him. world".
Some of the participants of the bicycle race, this Friday, before the start. Photo: Gabriel Bulacio
"If you put on a pair of blue glasses, you're going to see everything blue; if you put on black ones, you're going to see darker; if you put on pink ones maybe you're somatizing, and maybe if you put on clear glasses you can
see things." clearer
, have equanimity, understand that life is one, that it passes quickly, and one chooses how to live it," explains the mother.
And he takes the tandem as something symbolic: "to pedal you have to
make an effort
, you have to stay balanced to continue, and it is for two, a team, a family, and you must not forget to enjoy the journey, to raise a child." ".
They will spend the night in Las Armas, 110 kilometers from Mar del Plata. The second stop will be Dolores, the third Chascomús, and the fourth, Berazategui, a short distance from the final destination of the First Blue Tour, Vatican Square. "In every place we stop we have meetings with associations linked to autism," Zemborain enthuses before taking another selfie, with the sea in the background: "We came to look for the blue wave to join the great blue tide on April 2."
Mar del Plata. Correspondent
P.S.