From land allocation to funding: an autism charity’s fight for a care home

The Ángel Rivière organisation is taking the first steps towards establishing a residential centre in Marbella for people with ASD

José Carlos García

Marbella

Sometimes associations are centred around a hobby, and at other times around a cause. When they are of the latter kind, their aim may be ... to complement what already exists or to fill a gap in the system. The Ángel Rivière autism association is one such organisation, created to address a need and to join forces with the efforts already being made by the authorities, and which has now embarked on a project to fill a gap: the construction of a residential home for people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in Marbella.

The initiative has the support of the town hall, which has launched a process to transfer, free of charge, a municipal plot of land in the southern part of Elviria to this organisation for the construction of a care home and a day centre. However, the organisation will now have to secure the necessary funding to bring this initiative to fruition.

In fact, this is their second attempt. Back in 2019, the council had already set in motion the process to transfer some land in the Camino del Ángel area, but that project ultimately came to nothing. The association tried to secure funding through the NextGeneration EU funds, but the project was not among those selected. “We will try again to secure European funding, as well as support from institutions such as the Andalusian regional government, banks, large companies and sponsors. We will also continue to raise funds through charity events, raffles and donations,” explained Antonio Luis Molina, the association’s treasurer. “There is a lot of work ahead of us, but we are very excited about it,” he added.

“We have members who have had to take their children to Guadix: we want families to be able to stay close to their children”

The enthusiasm is surely directly proportional to the need. “The children are growing up and we have members who have had to take their children to centres in Malaga and even in Guadix (Granada): what we want is for families with this need to be able to stay close to their children,” the treasurer said.

Molina is referring to people with ASD at level 3, the most severe category, which requires a high level of assistance and supervision for their self-care activities, to the extent that “they may have a disability rating of 80 to 90 per cent”. The care home would be dedicated to meeting the needs of these individuals, and also to others with a lower level of impairment, who require support in their daily lives but are able to lead a full life and hold down a job. “Ultimately, independence is the key,” he said.

A more ambitious project

The project the organisation has now embarked upon is more ambitious. Whilst the plot on Camino del Ángel covered 1,880 square metres and allowed for the creation of 25 residential places, the current site in the southern part of Elviria covers 6,650 square metres, which will make it possible to almost double the care home’s capacity. The organisation wants to include sports facilities, because "if sport is important for anyone, it is even more so for someone with autism". Among these facilities, the organisation wants to include a swimming pool, which will provide them with significant benefits in terms of sensory regulation (reducing sensory overload and helping to calm anxiety), psychomotor development (strengthening muscle tone, coordination and balance) and emotional wellbeing to boost self-esteem and self-confidence.

"When you only provide one or two treatment sessions a week, it’s like trying to cure cancer with paracetamol"

All of this would be complemented by a day centre, where the organisation could continue to provide the services it currently offers in premises provided by Marbella council in the Río Real area. These range from assessment and diagnosis to intervention and support for families, as well as leisure activities. These facilities are intended to address “the lack of resources in Marbella and on the Costa del Sol”, because when a child with ASD is provided with only one or two intervention sessions a week, it is “as if we were trying to cure cancer with paracetamol”, explained Molina.

The organisation is aware that it has embarked on a task that does not, strictly speaking, fall within the remit of an association, but it is clear about the path forward and its purpose. “We will work tirelessly, because this is not a whim, it is a social necessity; moreover, the incidence of autism has soared in recent years,” Molina concluded.