Would you like to start the interview by explaining what you are involved in and what is your professional biography?
Forty-one years ago I had an accident that caused me a spinal cord injury resulting in paraplegia. I was a nurse at the regional hospital in Perugia, Italy, and for six months I had to leave my loved ones, my home and my life in Italy to get proper treatment in Germany. After I finished my stay at the clinic in Murnau, forty kilometers from Munich, I returned to Italy and resumed my nursing job until 1987. From my nursing career I moved on to teach at the regional school of nursing and physiotherapy care for people with spinal cord injury, which was not yet present as a discipline before. In 1985 I was elected to the district council, and in 1987 I joined the regional training center to teach the same discipline I was already teaching. In ’90, together with other people with spinal cord injury, we started a big battle for the establishment in Italy of facilities dedicated to people with spinal cord injury. In ’92 I joined the federation of the Italian paratetrapletic association, FAIP, became its secretary, and in ’94 I was elected president. In I was commissioned by the hospital company to contribute to the realization of the spinal unit in Perugia and began a battle in politics for the realization of spinal units in Italy. In the same year I changed professions and was assigned as an official for the Umbria region (until 2012) to the regional department for social and health policies. I contributed, as a FAIP, to the implementation of nine spinal units, so people with spinal cord injuries were no longer forced to leave Italy for an indefinite period of time to be treated properly.
I had the opportunity to have several administrative experiences as a councilor in the municipality of Perugia, as a delegate of the mayor in the Consiliatura on the issue of disability and disadvantage, and as a coordinator, for the national ANCI for policies to overcome barriers. Since 2012 I have served on the committee to approve Law 18 of March 3, 2009, better known as the UN Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities. From 2009 to 2012 I was part of the national observatory on the condition of persons with disabilities as coordinator of a group. Finally in 2012 in Umbria we built the regional observatory on the condition of persons with disabilities, of which I was president from 2012 to 2020.
On the occasion of this year’s Paralympics, I ask you, regarding physical disabilities, have you seen changes in recent years such as cultural evolution, greater inclusion and/or less stigma?
The G7 concerning the theme of inclusion and disability will be held in Umbria this year.
This year’s G7, the Para Olympics are crucial to inform.
The Para Olympics in particular show that it is necessary to find tools to encourage any kind of sport at any level and to practice it in the places used for the different disciplines. This is the Copernican revolution, that is, for there to be true social redemption such places must be accessible and practicable by all. Only when this is totally assured can we overcome the stigma of disability.
Personally, I can say that in addition to being rehabilitative, sport has the characteristics to become an instrument of social redemption. Through sports I was able to recover skills and competencies that made my life better and allowed me to regain autonomy. In general, thanks to sports, the person with disabilities returns to being an active person.
Regarding the Para Olympics, however, I would like to consider the clear distinction between them and the Olympics in which able-bodied athletes compete. However, this sharp difference imposed also and especially for organizational reasons only fuels the contrast between able-bodied and disabled people. What is required of us today on a social and collective level is to break down these preconceptions and prejudices. The stigma that surrounds this part of society can be broken down if we go to heal the heart of the problem, which is the culture of a country. The value of a person does not depend on his or her condition, and to understand this, it is necessary to think in terms of equal opportunity and the right to citizenship.
The paradigm shift is to give equal opportunities to all, and this is implemented through inclusion and policy and administrative acts. In planning policies and administrative actions, one must take into account that there are citizens who are constructed differently from others but are still citizens. I who administrate must have the ability to govern for all, but to govern for all I must have gone through a cultural passage that has enriched me and made me understand what the foundational values are to govern for all.
So the cultural transition is only realized if there is contamination in a society.
According to your experience and knowledge after the Paralympics are over, will the new values and innovations that this event brings remain in people’s minds?
Certainly. The Para Olympics are proof that there is the possibility of fulfillment and redemption for any individual. It is essential to reiterate that in this case we are talking about athletes and not just people doing sports.
The Para Olympics also function as a remainder for the country’s politics, so that we work to ensure that there are fewer and fewer limitations and obstacles for all people with disabilities.
Has your fight for architectural barriers led to changes in current legislation?
Historically, it all started in 1986 with Minister Giovanni Goria’s new financial law that introduced the obligation for municipalities to have a PEBA1, in other words it laid the legislative foundation for the introduction of these plans.
Today several associations have returned to claim support and a hearing on this issue, including blind and deaf people among the disadvantaged. The funds allocated under the NRP will also have to play an important part.