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Life Story of Corina Álvarez

Writing my own story 

Sonia López Rodríguez.

Original title: Life Story of Corina Álvarez. Writing my own story. First edition in Spanish: October 2022. Author: Sonia López Rodríguez, from the text Illustrations and images: Corina Álvarez Guerra, Sonia López Rodríguez and Quererla es Crearla. Collection: Stories of exclusion and struggle for inclusive education. 

Text presented in the Master’s Degree in Inclusive Education, Democracy and Cooperative Learning from the University of Vic, as part of the author’s Master’s Final Project, titled “Education, Resistance, and Intersectionality: The Story of a Venezuelan Woman with Down Syndrome”, supervised by Ignacio Calderón Almendros. This book has been collaboratively built between Sonia López Rodríguez and Corina Álvarez Guerra. 

Both the text presented here and the rest of the report are part of the Research ProjectEmerging Narratives on Inclusive Schooling from the Social Model of Disability. Resistance, Resilience, and Social Change(RTI2018-099218-A-I00), funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, led by Ignacio Calderón Almendros and María Teresa Rascón Gómez, and developed at the University of Málaga.

Work published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ 

For us.

Index

  1. Introduction
  2. Corina Sofía Álvarez Guerra
  3. Venezuela
  4. My family
  5. Spain
  6. My favorite school
  7. I had a bad time
  8. Hugo
  9. The love of my life
  10. I am a painter
  11. I am an actress
  12. About the author

Introduction

The text that follows is born from the encounter and bond between two people. The first wants to use her own voice to tell her story and make the world know it. The second is a witness, both in her professional and personal life, to how the voices of people with functional diversity are systematically silenced. Crushed, minimized, and even ridiculed by professionals from different fields of knowledge. The need to offer a platform to a story that seeks to be heard and recognized, along with the intensity of submission to the will of others, systemic hypocrisy, and the impunity of the educational system in excluding all those who deviate from the norm, have been the main driving forces behind the development of this project.

Corina’s story speaks of uprooting, discrimination, and oppression, but also of expectations, opportunities, and resistance.

Corina Sofía Álvarez Guerra

I suppose if you’ve made it this far, it’s because you’re interested in knowing who I am. And, let’s be honest, I want you to know who I am too. 

When asked to define myself, I always say I’m “organized,” so we’ll start this story, my story, from the beginning. 

My name is Corina Sofía Álvarez Guerra and I was born on January 16, 1996, in San Antonio de los Altos, near Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Although I came to Spain at the age of five and have lived here ever since, I am and always will be Venezuelan. 

Venezuela

I never wanted to leave there.

There in Venezuela, I lived with my dad, who is Spanish, my mom, who was Venezuelan like me, and some of my siblings. 

When I was born, I was very pale, very pale, chubby, and had very blond, almost white, hair, and blue eyes. I was born with problems in my chest, heart, gallbladder, and eyesight… I had to spend some time in the hospital incubator, I had several operations, and I didn’t recover well from some of them… Even today I have stomach problems and have to take medicine, but I feel much better now, and after my eye surgery, for example, I no longer need glasses.

As I was telling you, in Venezuela I lived with my dad, my mom, and some of my siblings. We even had two dogs named Mufasa and Mafalda.

From those years, I remember that my little brother and I couldn’t leave the apartment because it was dangerous and you could be kidnapped. Even so, my little brother and I would go to school there, to the kindergarten classroom where I learned so many things: numbers, letters… All those things that were in my notebooks! In that school, I was with all my classmates and my teacher, whose name I don’t remember anymore… I also studied. I went to after-school tutoring, did the activities they assigned me, and ate in the cafeteria… I used to eat all my classmates’ food! Everyone’s! I have no idea why I did it, but it’s a story that always makes me smile when I tell it.

I remember putting on my uniform, my grandmother preparing my lunch to take with me, and singing the national anthem when entering school. 

In my country, I also went to an association for people with Down syndrome that I remember with special affection. There I did exercises from birth, they celebrated all my birthdays, there were clowns, music, we danced, we dressed up… They made me feel very special, cared for, and loved. 

I remember all the foods from my country: arepas with hand cheese, with regular bread, with shredded meat, with pork cracklings. I remember the arepa stands. Cachapas, the…crepesand pancakes. There were also fish empanadas. The food was so good there!, so delicious, so flavorful! I continue to eat the typical foods of my country here, but it’s not the same. 

However, my grandmother decided that my siblings and I had to leave Venezuela, and we moved to Spain in 2001, when I was 5 years old. I never wanted to leave there, and if I had known, I wouldn’t have left the country. I didn’t like how things were done, I didn’t like how I experienced it. I felt… how can I explain it? A sadness… I wanted to stay with my parents, who were the most important thing to me; I didn’t want to leave them alone. If I could… I would go back today without a doubt! Thinking about it makes me sad, and even today I don’t understand why we had to leave. 

My family

She was the first one who saw me.

Before continuing with the story, the first thing you need to know is that I have a large family. Family in Venezuela and Miami from my mom’s side and family in Galicia from my dad’s side.

Arturo, my dad, went to Venezuela when he was young and there he met Raiza, my mom, and they fell in love. It was a movie-like love and they were very happy together. When we left Venezuela, they stayed there and my heart broke when I had to separate from them. My mom passed away in 2003, when I was already in Spain, and my dad went first to Caracas, where he met Xulia, his current partner, and then he went to Argentina. A few months ago, he came to live with us in Galicia. At home, he makes me breakfast: he makes his coffee and I pour my juice. It makes me very happy that he is here. Xulia also came a short time ago. The moment he introduced her to me, as soon as I saw her, I knew she was the ideal partner for my dad. She is the woman of his life. He is her Romeo and she is his Juliet. Xulia is very special with me, very affectionate, as if she were my own mother, you know? And she’s all mine! 

We talk, we share, we eat together, and we go for walks. I read her poetry, love poems, and she loves them. Since she arrived not too long ago, I go out with her for walks to show her the city. I love her very much and I appreciate her. 

Then there are my siblings. There are five of us: Juan Manuel, Jean, Jenny, me, and Luis. 

I see my brother Juan Manuel, who is only my father’s son, and my nephew Daniel Arturo, his son, very little because they live elsewhere. 

Then there’s my beautiful little brother, Jean, who is my (7) older brother, my mother’s son, and also, as if he were my father too. Jean raised me, gave me a roof over my head, food, love, affection, care… He looked after me, protected me. We have a very special relationship. He used to be a chef, although he works in something else now. He took several cooking courses that helped him work in different restaurants in the city. If you knew how delicious he cooks! 

Then there’s my sister Jenny, who lives in Santiago. She’s also older than me, like Jean, and she studied aesthetics. She likes dancing like I do and, although she has her moments, the truth is she doesn’t show it with me and we have a good relationship. 

Then there’s me, the middle child (but I’ll tell you more about me later), and my brother Luis. 

Luis was younger than me, and I remember when he was a newborn, he was so beautiful, so lovely, so gorgeous! He was born in Venezuela, like me. We went to school together, there in my country and here too, we went out together, we went to eat tequeños and ice cream… And he gave me my nephew Dieguito. My brother passed away a few months ago and… it was one of the worst moments of my life because he was everything to me. That day I was so scared, so angry, crying… I remember not wanting to eat anything and seeing my brother unwell… I realized there was suffering in his eyes and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t do anything. And that’s something you don’t forget, you know? You can’t forget. I was sad, dead inside. I loved him so much. In my own way, of course, but I loved him so much. He was a great brother to me. Luis is my saddest, and at the same time, happiest memory. 

And then there’s my grandmother. My beautiful, gorgeous grandma. (8) She’s my mom’s mom and… what can I tell you about her? The day I was born, she was there. From the first day, in the hospital in Venezuela, she was there. She saw me as a newborn in the incubator, she held me in her arms, she kissed me and pampered me. She gave me the bottle, and I would fall asleep on her chest. (9) She was the one who discovered I had Down syndrome. My grandmother said, “She has Down syndrome, it’s her.” And she looked at me with that sweet gaze of love, you know? She was the first one who saw me. 

Besides my parents, my siblings, and my grandmother, I have a lot more family in Miami, Venezuela, and Galicia: my aunt Rebeca, my uncles Pepe and Tamara, my cousin Samuel, my cousin Inés… 

Until before COVID, we traveled every Christmas to Miami, Florida, to see my family and friends who are there. We also spent Epiphany and my birthday there. (10) I remember one year we even went to Disney when I was little. When we are in Miami, we stay at my aunt’s house and I sleep in my cousin’s little bed in the cool air. There we walk around, go out, lie down outside, watch games, eat outside too. We also went to a ranch with horses… I love horses. On that ranch, I met famous actors and singers. We went to a house on the beach where we stayed overnight… I have photos from a place where we ate sweets with Dayana, and I had a strawberry smoothie. My brother Jean (11) tried the coconut smoothie that day, which has milk, condensed milk, ice, coconut… And it’s also typical of Venezuela. 

If I could go anywhere in the world, I think I would go to Miami. To Miami or to New York, because my mom was there and I would love to visit that place and see what it’s like. 

Spain

I repeated, repeated, and repeated. 

As I was saying before, I arrived in Spain at the age of five, in 2001. My grandmother, my brothers Luis, Jean, and I stayed for a few months in Santander, in a house where I remember being very, very cold and which was also close to Magdalena Park and the school where my brother Luisito and I studied. 

We spent that Christmas in the village, in Quintela, in Ourense, and then we moved to the apartment on Ramón Puga street for about three years. There I went to a school where I especially remember the dining hall where I ate. I also remember other things like the playground, the school inside, and the bathrooms, but the dining hall… It was immense! I remember being with the caregivers who looked after me and taught me to eat a little bit of everything, even if I didn’t like it. They even forced me to eat! Even so, I feel that at that school they treated me well, with affection, in a special way. I shared a class with other classmates, but I don’t keep in touch with any of them. 

In 2005, we moved to San Benito, in the municipality of Pereiro de Aguiar, and I changed schools again (13). I stayed at that school until around 2010. There I also made my first friend, Arancha, because we studied there, ate together in the dining hall, and were neighbors. Arancha was small like me, and I remember singing Juanes’ songs with her. I learned to read and write and loved it, but… what happened at that school? I repeated, repeated, repeated, and repeated sixth grade, sixth, sixth, and sixth grade!14 A lot of times! Until we moved to the house where I live now with my dad, my brother, and my grandma, and I went to study at another school.

My favorite school

Good memories.

If I had to choose a favorite school, it would undoubtedly be the one I’m about to tell you about. I was there from 2010 until I finished in 2017. 

I have so many good memories! I met the love of my life there and learned many things, although I alsohad a hard time. I used to get up early and go to the bus stop with my little brother.

I was in a small class with my classmates (15) Hugo, Alba, Kevin, and Iker, and my teachers, Marián (16) and Marta. I always had a very special connection with Marián; she treated me with a lot of affection and friendship, and I grew very fond of her. And I have to say that Marián witnessed that love I had at school. She supported me when I was going through a tough time.

I remember Marta used to scold me more than Marián. I couldn’t give you a specific example, but I have the feeling she scolded me for everything! Although I have to say I loved being with both of them. They always helped me with reading, with the assignments they gave me, they explained them to me, and the truth is I was happy with them. With them, everything was fantastic. They accompanied us to the big class, to gym… I really liked my (17) small class, and as I was saying, I was happy with my teachers, but the truth is I preferred the big class, where all the classmates were.

I remember Alejandra, my tutor for that big class who also taught me. She explained things like the human body to me, talked to me about maps, dance, and different countries. 

There was also Pedro, my physical education teacher, who was calm, very handsome, and I liked him. There was Ignacio who did gymnastics with me. There was Miguel, who I remember used to tease Hugo, my classmate, a lot. There was Manuela, the music teacher who explained things very well, the caregivers… 

What can I tell you about myself when I was at that school? I was a quiet, calm girl who concentrated on her tasks and only got nervous when I saw the man who was the love of my life. I did my homework when I got home with my beautiful, lovely grandma, and there we were: go, go, go, go! Although I have to say she didn’t push me too hard either. 

I had a very bad time

I’ve had to defend myself at other times. 

I told you earlier that I also had a very bad time, and it’s that not all memories are good. One of my classmates in the small class treated me very badly. He used to yell at me, humiliate me, chase me around the playground, scare me, and even almost killed me on the stairs… He put on a show and acted… he was very loud! He did whatever he pleased. He would chase me and say: “I like you!” and I think the problem was that. That he liked me. That he wanted me to be his girlfriend and he would come near me… He even dared to lay a hand on me! I didn’t like him and I defended myself. I told him: “Get away!, Don’t come near me!, Stay away from me! You’re never going to lay a hand on me.” Although I defended myself alone, Hugo also defended me from him. I have very bad memories of that time, although now we get along much better and he even makes me laugh sometimes. 

I’ve had to stand up for myself at other times. For myself and my classmates. Once, on an outing, we went to a (18)” bazaar. There were a lot of people on the street and they were pushing Mónica. I went into the store and I wanted to see how much (19)” some boxes cost, but they didn’t have the price. We went to the checkout, Mónica and I, to ask and pay, and they didn’t want to charge either of us. I was there: “I’m talking to you” and nothing, they didn’t pay me any mind. I was there as if I wasn’t. They ignored me and I had fire inside. And I let my anger out: “Do you want to pay attention to me? I’m talking to you!”. Nothing. I left indignant. I had hatred inside… anger!, fury! I felt bad for Mónica and Alba, because I saw their faces.

Hugo

The only friend.

Before, I told you that Hugo defended me when someone treated me badly. Hugo defended me and still defends me today. You could say that, at that time, my friends were the ones in my class, but at the same time, I feel like Hugo was the only friend I had in my life. He was the one who supported me and defended me. Sometimes he behaved badly and sometimes well, but he was always by my side and still supports me in everything today. He’s always there, close to me. He gives me these loving looks! Sometimes he holds my hand, kisses it… Some classmates tell us ‘how cute we are’ and I tell them: ‘Shut up!, Shut up!’. Or Alba, for example, who tells me I’m in love with him and I ignore her… you know, right? The thing is, Hugo likes being with me, he has a good time with me, and he’s very gentlemanly. He worries about me, about whether I’m on a diet, if something doesn’t agree with me when we go out to eat… It’s nice to have something like that.

The love of my life

If only I had known…

I could talk about him for hours. So many, many, many memories together come to mind. I met him at the last school I attended. He was older than me and a friend of my brother Luis. He was in the older class, but we went to the dining hall together. I was very, very, very in love with him. You know? The story ended because another girl wanted to be with him, I felt a bit uncomfortable and I wanted to kill her! Because it all ended because of her, because she intervened, but it was a really beautiful love story. We were together in the playground, he caressed my hand and put a flower in my hair. That first love stayed with me, here inside, in my chest, you know? He was so beautiful to me, so lovely. I would have stayed with him forever, we would have been together forever. No one ever understood me so beautifully.

Love story.I would have loved to marry him, on the beach, with a sea view and spend the night in a little house. Spend December and Christmas together. Have a honeymoon and celebrate our anniversaries together. Go to exhibitions alone, to see paintings by artists, go to Las Vegas and play cards. If only I had known. If I had known. I would have gone with him.(Corina, fragment) 

The truth is I miss him and I would love to know what happened to the love of my life. 

I am a painter

So that people could see them. 

I told you earlier that I define myself as “orderly,” but I am also a painter, an actress, and a model. 

I am a painter because I paint pictures, and very beautiful ones. When I painted the first picture, I was very young and didn’t like it at all… Too many colors for my taste. I remember trying to paint a drawing and nothing… It didn’t come out. I started to paint. 

It’s something that comes to me from my family because my grandmother also paints some wonderful pictures. Now I paint in oil or, sometimes, freehand. Some paintings are more complicated than others; I remember one where it was difficult to paint the parrots’ feathers. I paint pictures for myself, for my brothers, for my nephew Dieguito with characters he likes, like the PJ Masks. I haven’t given him that one yet; it’s at home for when he visits. 

I am an actress

Am I the same as her?

I am also an actress. And I would really like to work as a Venezuelan actress because I am very proud to be from there. In 2018, I recorded a film called Olvido y León in which I played the role of Elenita. It is the second part of a film called León and Olvido. They called me for the interview, I went there and (23) presented myself. They asked me several questions and hired me as a first-class actress. I remember I was a little nervous when I answered the questions in the interview, but in the end, they chose me to play the bad guy in the story, as the villain. The director told me: “Do you want to make a deal with me?” And I trusted him. I had to study the script, and my script had many words… Like eight hundred! And I said almost all of them. It was the first time I had ever made a movie, and I felt a little nervous with the script because I had to repeat it, read it, and sometimes I didn’t understand it. Javier and Mariana (24) helped me and indulged me. My little brother and I would go from very early in the morning to Ribadavia for the recording, and they invited us to eat out. I remember there was a scene where I was eating an ice cream, and every time we had to repeat it, they gave me another ice cream, and more and more ice cream!, and more and more ice cream!

In the movie, I worked with León, who was the (25)protagonist. We got along very well, and he would look at me with his little face like this…, you know? I really enjoyed working with him. What a shame he left so soon because he was a great movie actor! In the scenes, I would say to him: “Is your sister a (26)whore?” and “You’re a dog!”, and I would burst out laughing. I felt like a movie star.

When the movie premiered, we went to the auditorium, to the blue carpet, my family and I: my sister, my little brothers, Dieguito… Then we went to celebrate. A gala was going to be held in Coruña, but in the end, we didn’t go there because it wasn’t held. There was no gala, no dinner. (27)

I also wanted to do theater with the director. Right now I am enrolled in theater at the university, I’m just starting. I go to classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

The truth is that working as an actress convinces me. Working as an actress, as a model… I would also love to work as a manager and be the one who prepares the actors and travel with them to New York, Miami, Italy, and all the fashion capitals. Seeing the fashion brands and the collections of the different seasons of the year. Spring collection. Summer collection. They pay well there. 

These are not the only jobs I consider, I would also like to try modeling and take a modeling course. I also think about being a producer, a music composer, a writer, a photographer taking well-framed photography… an office assistant, a waitress, or a sales assistant would also be fine. But not here. On some beach in Mallorca, Valencia, Albufeira… I think it would do me good to travel for a while and see new places. 

Besides being a painter and actress, I also dance. I like world dances and took several courses over the last few years, before COVID, of course. Belly dancing with my sister, Arabic dance, “doll” dance, Indian dance in the Bollywood style… At the end of the course, we have a performance in the auditorium in front of a lot of people. I tried Sevillanas for a while too, but I’m not good at them. They’re not my thing. I didn’t like them. What I would really like to repeat are the courses for all those dances, but for now I can’t dance because I don’t have strength in my body, my feet, and my legs.

When I dance, when I paint, when I sing, when I write… These are things that make me happy. It’s my thing.

I would love to be a recognized, famous woman, live my life, be happy and be able to live my life. I would like to travel, have a partner, live with him and sing all the songs we like together.

But it’s complicated. Because people are people who live their lives, go out, have a drink, and have that life. And I, honestly, want that life that people have. I can have it, but it’s difficult. There are other people who live their lives, and well, I have Down syndrome. I don’t like the term ‘Down syndrome’, but I feel good. I’m happy with who I am. 

To finish up, I want to tell you that I really love watching soap operas at home: Sin senos no hay paraíso, La hija del mariachi, Doña Bárbara, and many more. I have them all written down in my papers. 

There’s a soap opera called “La mujer perfecta” in which the actress Mónica Spear appears and plays a character named Micaela Gómez. Well, that character has a syndrome. Asperger’s syndrome. I think it’s important for there to be characters, actors, and actresses on television who have syndromes, because I watch it and sometimes I ask myself: “Am I the same as her?” 

About the author

Sonia López Rodríguez is the daughter of deaf parents. Woman. Psychologist in continuous deconstruction. In love with an education that sees, welcomes, values, and believes in all people. A staunch defender of the power that collective movements have in social transformation and with the firm conviction that another way of doing things is possible. 

Notes

  1. Town located in the municipality of Los Salias, in the State of Miranda, about 20 km from Caracas. 
  2. Expression meaning “upright”, “upwards”. 
  3. Apartment. 
  4. Education corresponding to the Early Childhood Education stage within the Spanish education system. 
  5. In some Latin American countries, directed tasks are the equivalent of extracurricular educational reinforcement classes in small groups. 
  6. It refers to intervention related to early intervention.
  7. Literal expression Corina uses to refer to her brother Jean. 
  8. Literal expression Corina uses to refer to her grandmother. 
  9. Baby bottle. 
  10. January 6, Epiphany Day. 
  11. Friend of the family. 
  12. Educational technical assistant (ATE). 
  13. Also in the province of Ourense, on the outskirts, although just a few minutes from the city center. 
  14. It refers to the sixth year of Primary Education. 
  15. It refers to a specific classroom for students labeled with Special Educational Needs. 
  16. The original names of the colleagues are modified because these individuals do not participate in the research. The names of the teaching staff are also modified, with the exception of Marián, who does participate as an informant chosen by Corina. 
  17. Mainstream classroom. 
  18. It refers to an outing into the community within the framework of the Transition to Adult Life program at the entity she attends. 
  19. Corina’s companion who moves with a cane. 
  20. Companions from the program of the entity she attends. 
  21. Special education classroom. 
  22. To learn more: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12485306/ 
  23. To learn more: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414225/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_lk1 
  24. Xavier Bermúdez and Mariana Romero, director and production manager of the film, respectively. 
  25. Character played by actor Guillem Jiménez. 
  26. Actor Guillem Jiménez passes away in February 2021. 
  27. Although the timing is not specified, the dates coincide with the beginning of the COVID pandemic. 
  28. Type of Arabic dance, similar to belly dancing. 
  29. Refers to the actress Mónica Spear who embodies the character of Micaela Gómez in the Venezuelan telenovela “La mujer perfecta”. To learn more: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mónica_Spear 

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