Writer Meira Barnea Goldberg, who is also the mother of an autistic child, posted a Facebook post in which she told about a difficult and traumatic experience her son had at the Festigal.
"I haven't been screamed at for a long time, but I was really screamed at," Barnea Goldberg wrote. "I made a mistake and took my son to the Festigal.
What a mistake.
A terrible mistake. "
According to her, since she thought it would be a long queue and a mess, she arrived early with her son.
When her son showed signs of breaking, she asked to use an exemption card from having her son autistic, but then she began a mask of humiliation, screaming and impatience on the part of the person in charge at the place.
"He could not be identified because he did not have a name tag or formal attire. Then he screamed at me. I was shocked. I just presented the exemption from the queue and he freaked out. He tried to go and ignore, but I did not let him. I insisted on being treated. I kept nagging him. He told us to wait and that we were lucky he did not tell us to go to the minus 2 floor with the disabled.
"Then he left. I went to another person in charge who also refused to treat us until I told him that what they were doing was against the law and then they put the whole group in (of autistic children).
This time the crowd around screamed at us and I politely explained that this is a group of autistic children.
Stop screaming and one woman said 'what fun you have!'.
I told her that we had a lot of fun and only thanks to this pleasant entrance to the Festigal was all our autism of our children worth it.
"I wished all the stunning children to enjoy the show. We said goodbye to the group. This is where the real nightmare began. People ran into each other in line for the bathroom. One guard tried to arrange the queue but people just got on it. Avishai (the writer's son) Must go to the bathroom.
Miraculously I was able to find him a cell and then it was impossible to get out.
People literally pushed the guard when he screamed and said he could not believe it was happening to him and it was impossible to get out.
"I grabbed him by the hands. A 12-year-old boy, so they wouldn't get on him, and I just made my way out stunned. Luckily Avishai didn't want any festigal surprises or food, just to sit. He was in complete shock. Shock. The show was supposed to start at 8pm. Forty. For minutes we sat and watched an advertisement for the costumes of the heroes of the festival. 'Mom,' he suddenly told me, 'I will never ask to come to the festival again. In life.'
"20:41 started. Anyway this is our last time in this place. I was in a lot of enchanting shows with thousands of people but I have never experienced such a horrible and horrible experience in life. For the management of the festival I have only one thing to say: "Two years and recite worn-out messages. The conduct on the ground was fucking. It's your responsibility! You are not just extorting money," Barnea concluded the angry post with a series of photos from the field.
After the post received hundreds of shares and likes, Barnea posted another post in which she revealed the responses she received and asked to convey a message: "Sometimes I get tired of being a symbol. As my father and my husband's father have begged me and have been begging for years, "she wrote.
"Sometimes I definitely get into breaking situations where I think in a moment I'm closing this page and moving to a format of 100 friends and relatives, but it turns out that the more vicious and violent reactions I get, and the more responses I get from uneducated people - the more motivation to continue my journey." .
According to her, among all the messages of support was a variety of such messages: 'Do not come with an autistic child to such a place.'
"Sorry ??? Because the guards I came across did not know how to respect the character that the state issued to my son. Should I not attend such events with him? Not cute! "I will do everything to fix the world and raise awareness. If the most famous and crowded tourist sites in Europe have honored this character, there is no reason why this should not happen in Israel. It is time for a fine for businesses that do not honor these tickets in reality.
The festival management said that Barnea was sent a message saying "We read everything you wrote, and first of all it is important for us to say that we are sorry that this is your experience and especially your child. This is of course not the feeling we want our audience to leave the show with. "Things so we can fix them. Please send us your number and we will contact you."
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