Handicap: Amazon dolphins invite themselves into therapy

In the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, Luiz Felipe, 27, caresses a pink dolphin and poses smiling for a photo: a therapy like no other for this young man who has defeated his fear of entering the water of the Rio Negro.

This program in which nearly 400 disabled people have already participated organizes sessions in Iranduba, in the State of Amazonas (North).

“It is a complementary treatment, which does not replace others”explains to AFP Igor Simoes Andrade, 49, creator of this therapy by dolphins.

“It is an unconventional alternative that brings joy to children and young people, puts them in contact with nature and gives them a force that is not found in a hospital”add this physiotherapist.

Therapies of this kind with animals exist in other countries, but Mr. Simoes Andrade ensures that this is the “First in the world” With dolphins in freedom, in their natural inhabitant. The program started in 2006.

The sessions are free, funded thanks to the support of sponsors.

They are intended for people with Down’s syndrome, autistic or endeavors of cerebral paralysis, but also for people with physical disabilities.

Sessions with dolphins, according to him, help patients “Improve their balance, their psychomotricity and strengthen their spine”without counting the “Emotions related to feeling integrated into nature”.

“Here, we do not treat pathologies, we treat human beings”he sums up.

Relaxation

The neuropedagogue Hannah Fernandes underlines for its part the benefits in terms of “Sociability”people receiving this therapy being thus “In contact with people outside their daily environment”in particular the session organizers.

Before entering the river water, Luiz Felipe, who lives in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, does breathing and yoga exercises to relax.

“This time, he was not afraid, when the first time he had not dared to go into the water”welcomes Hannah Fernandes.

Equipped with life jackets, the patients float on the Rio Negro, one of the most important tributaries in the Amazon, while the dolphins swim between their legs and go up from time to time on the surface.

No need to attract them with food: they come from themselves, out of curiosity, like when children from local communities are bathed in the river.

The sessions are organized with the authorization of the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Recordable Natural Resources (IBAMA), a public surveillance body.