When Mary Rose Abela was tasked with tracing children with disabilities in Maltese villages 60 years ago, she sometimes required police assistance when knocking on the family door.

These children would have ‘disappeared’ after their birth – they were kept at home away from prying eyes because the stigma linked to disability was so strong at the time, it could impact marriage prospects of their siblings.

But Mary Rose, then 24, had just returned from the UK, where she specialised in the teaching of children with disabilities. Backed by other Maltese pioneers in the sector – Joseph Burlò and Mgr Mikiel Azzopardi – she persisted in her research to understand the prevalence of disability and the local needs.

She sometimes sought the help of parish priests who would know of children who were being kept at home. Her visits were at times unwelcome, and in such instances police officers would accompany her.

Her findings would eventually prove useful for Burlò when introducing education programmes for children with disabilities, and also helped Mgr Azzopardi in his plans to open the first home in Malta that offered residential services to people with disabilities.

But Mary Rose too had her own pioneering moment.

First in Malta to teach children at hospital

Soon after her research in Maltese villages, in 1962 she became the first in Malta to officially teach children at hospital, some of whom were being treated after developing disabilities caused by polio, similar conditions or accidents.

For four years she devised personalised teaching programmes for children at the orthopedic ward at St Luke’s Hospital, at times making special arrangements for them to sit for exams.

“They had so much potential. It would have been a pity to stop their education process while they were in hospital, or because of their disability. Several of them were successful in life and I remained in touch with them well after they left hospital… I’m still in touch with some to this very day.”

Mary Rose, now Zahra, was speaking after Times of Malta published an article about Burlò, an unsung hero in the disability sector. Burlò was instrumental in setting up the special school system for children with disability and a day centre for blind and visually impaired adults.

In her interview with Times of Malta, Mary Rose, 86, recalled losing her mother to typhoid fever soon after the war ended in Malta. She was just six years old.

Children at St Vincent de Paul home for the elderly

Taken in by her aunt Stella, she was encouraged to pursue a career in education, but it was not until, as a teenager, she volunteered at St Vincent de Paul (back then known as Ingieret) that she contemplated specialising within the disability sector.

“Apart from elderly residents, there were children with disabilities who were kept in cots at the hospital. We noticed that the elderly were really fond of these children and helped to take care of them. They were like their grandparents: they fed them, sang to them and told them stories. However, the environment was not adequate for children.

“Back then, there was no residence specifically for children with disabilities, and I kept thinking of those children for years after.”

After sitting for her O’ levels, Mary Rose worked as an emergency teacher for a couple of years and attended the Mater Admirabilis Training College, where she trained as a teacher. Soon after, she won a scholarship in teaching children with disabilities at the University of Liverpool. 

Stigma persisted… and is still around nowadays, although to a much lesser degree- Mary Rose Zahra

When she returned to Malta and joined Burlò at the Education Department, the stigma surrounding children with a disability was also prevalent among her own peers, who were not keen to hear about her experiences.

Mary Rose eventually married Joseph Zahra – also an educator – and had two children. She had to stop working because of a law banning married women from gainful employment.

But in 1981, she went back to what she loved doing, and what she did best: teaching children with disabilities at the Wardija Special School until her retirement in 1998. She remembers that despite the progress within the sector, the stigma persisted… and is still around nowadays, although to a much lesser degree.

Mary Rose believes that had she not suffered her own ailments brought about by old age, she would still be working with children with disabilities to this very day.