Overcome your limits and you will realize they don’t exist

Salvatore Cimmino

If on one side technology and science have made big steps forward, we cannot say the same of our consciences and our awareness.

The result of this lack of progress is originated by an increasingly common selfishness, caused by difficulties in relationships, wars, widespread violence, poverty and fear of living.

We need to face the real challenge we have ahead: we must choose our future, take as human beings the right decisions for the common good. At this difficult historical time we are called to decide the destiny of life on our planet.

To create a fair society, characterized by peace and dialogue, we mustn’t leave anyone behind.
This is the reason why, when the Liceo Pitagora-Croce proposed to me the Conference (only an accessible society can become an ideal society), I didn’t hesitate because only meeting the young makes it possible to project and accomplish the path. Seeing the young involved as an active part of the social and political life enables us to find a new way to deal with more sensitive problems, such as disabilities.

Listening to them, making a priority of their requests, their thoughts, their expectations and reasoning, respecting their sensibility and their relational attitudes will make it possible to start knocking down barriers between people.

I also found very beautiful and motivating having met teachers that, with their true spirit of educators, have encouraged their students to be involved proving great commitment to such difficult issues. This to elaborate together consciences and awareness that are needed to help their students reach the status of involved adult citizens.

Many years ago in my school, the institute Ernesto Cesaro I found the strength to react to a strong and appalling grief which risked to condition negatively all my existence. I overcame the pain with the support of all my old classmates and all my teachers, who accompanied me on a long exhausting recovery path.

Therefore I learned that school isn’t only made of marks and tests; school is the most important formative moment in each of our existences. It is the place of growth and comparison. It is the place where we learn to be independent and where thoughts and ideas arise. It’s where we become citizens and we start framing our existence. In particular we experiment at our best the value and the meaning of inclusion and cooperation.

A good signal would be the inclusion of the United Nation’s Convention of Human Rights for Disabilities in the school programme at all levels.

There are about one million people with disabilities in the world. That means a person every seven is affected by a more or less severe handicap. Evidence suggests that people with handicaps are disproportionately represented among the poor in the world. The community must become aware of the fact that it must adapt to the needs of people with disabilities and not the other way round.

Like every individual, people with disabilities must be able to enjoy their full citizenship and make freely decisions about what concerns them.

Policies made in favour of disabled people are limited to financial or material aid, often absolutely not sufficient. Emphasis should be placed on a better integration in society.

Not recognizing this urgent need of total inclusion can cause three orders of deficit: economic, because not using resources available implies high costs for the state; social because not integrating causes marginalization; democratic because denying participation means denying full citizenship.

Let’s make of hospitality a style of life. Let us never be tired of meeting the other, of enjoying diversity, of overcoming our fears and especially of opening to the world.

With Love
Salvatore Cimmino