María Victoria Varela is a Special Education Teacher who is currently serving as
Deputy School Director at School N°240 "Paul Harris" in Uruguay, a school located in Montevideo, in the Carrasco Norte area. Growing up amongst people linked to education, she followed her passion to become a teacher with a vision to help young people with disabilities. Through her work, she is accompanying almost 200 students with disabilities and others with severe learning difficulties in their educational journeys, ensuring they are included in standard schooling. Beyond that, her biggest achievement is in building a truly inclusive teacher community in the area.

As a child, she moved frequently because of her father's job, attending different
schools in different places, which made her experience first-hand the richness and value of diversity.

Varela’s work responds to the requirement in Uruguay’s educational policy to seek inclusive education and it looks to promote UN Sustainable Development Goal 4. She strives for inclusion, expanding the possibilities open to people with disabilities in an educational space, in “escuelas comunes” (mainstream schools) as they are termed in Uruguay, which is a significant challenge when dealing with diverse needs. She studied to become a Special Needs Teacher, but she didn’t want to stick to her role or to the status quo: she always had a vision to transform the education system into an inclusive one, where all kids can study in the same classroom, and are not divided in different schools.

The school she works in caters exclusively for 105 students with intellectual
disabilities, but it also serves as a beacon of inclusivity to 24 other schools in the
area, that have, in total, 230 students who are assisted by teachers from her school in classrooms with children who do not have disabilities.

In Varela’s view, talking about inclusion is talking about presence, belonging and
participation. Therefore, in addition to working with children, she works with their
teachers in the search for strategies and resources that guarantee equitable and
quality education, which start with an inclusive mindset and a strong belief that kids with disabilities can learn and be enriched in classrooms with kids that don’t have disabilities. She also helps families by designing resources that stimulate children from home and give them access to the necessary support.

In 2020, she was selected as a finalist for the ReachingU Award for Uruguayan
teachers.