A bridge to overcome barriers together. Persons at the service of persons

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My speech:

With sadness I must point out that in Italy, among so many endemic uncertainties, there is unfortunately one certainty: the right to injustice.

Every day the Articles of our Constitution are widely betrayed, evaded, circumvented, deceived, transgressed by a political class, unfortunately, obviously distracted and therefore in default.

Certainly the most ignored are Article 2, the one which says that the Republic recognizes and guarantees the inviolable rights of man and Article 3, which expresses the fundamental principle according to which it is the duty of the Republic to remove the obstacles that limit equality. and the freedom of citizens by preventing the full development of the human person. Hence Article 16, which solemnly establishes that each citizen can move and reside freely in any part of the national territory, and finally Article 38, according to which social assistance, as a public activity aimed at removing obstacles of an economic and which effectively limits the equality and freedom of citizens, represents the necessary expression of the solidarity of the whole organized community.

People with disabilities and their families are increasingly invisible because politics, all of them, has decided that it is not convenient to see their reality despite the complaints running on the net 24 hours a day, in the testimonies of those who experience discomfort, and that they continue with constancy and even with the hope of being heard, to report difficulties, emergencies and critical issues.

The growing gap between citizens with disabilities (and their families) and the policies that are registered in our country are not attributable only to indifference, disinterest or protest, more or less conscious, against a political class perceived as inadequate and at worst even corrupt hypotheses. Instead, I believe, it is an indication of something more serious: a radical loss of trust in democracy as a vehicle for change and social emancipation, which today particularly affects the most disadvantaged.

To use an oxymoron, people with disabilities without politics: like saying parents without children.

Interview with CONI President Giovanni Malagò

Traveling around Italy, (swimming), I was able to see a total disaffection for the institutions by people with disabilities in the throes of resignation, because disabilities often translate into handicaps, limitations, thanks to the constant presence of (legal , architectural, psychological and social), with which they are forced to deal daily.

The low interest of persons with disabilities and their families in politics reflects the low interest of politics in persons with disabilities and their families. Politics in Italy seems to have become an entertainment game for the upper middle classes. A game that does not thrill, and above all does not involve, those who, due to barriers, especially legal ones, have lost all hope in the possibility of a collective solution to their problems.

In the perspective of the next government it will be fundamental, I believe, for those who propose to protect the rights of persons with disabilities, to deepen their knowledge of the United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, to safeguard the principles of freedom and equality that argue.

Every citizen with disabilities has the right to personal mobility with the greatest possible autonomy, this is the principle solemnly affirmed by Article 20 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; for this reason, States Parties should make provision to facilitate personal mobility in the ways and times chosen by them and at accessible costs and encourage manufacturers of mobility aids, devices and accessories and support technologies, to take into consideration all aspects of mobility of people with disabilities.

For all this we are working on a bill that aims to make the right to a dignified existence of people with disabilities and their families enforceable.

– Law Proposal that aims to extend the possibility of benefiting from the most advanced technologies and treatments as indicated in law no. 18 of 3 March 2009, law by which Parliament authorized the ratification of the aforementioned Convention.

– Law Proposal that aims, finally, to affirm the right of citizenship.

– Law Proposal that wants to implement articles 2, 3, 16 and 38 of the Constitution and Law no. 18 of 3 March 2009, in order to recognize (Art. 1) people with disabilities, regardless of the cause, the right to use the most effective treatments and the best technologies available on the market, provided by the National Health Service.

– Who wants, finally, to update the tariff nomenclature (art. 2) mandatorily once a year, before the approval of the finance law. The update must provide for the use of the best technologies available and – at least with regard to the services and aids necessary to deal with the pathologies and needs of particular importance – specific delivery and supply methods that allow, for each beneficiary, according to the pathology he is a carrier, to take advantage of the services and aids most suited to his particular needs, in order to allow him the maximum possible level of autonomy. The aforementioned procedures, in particular, must ensure that, for the purchase and supply of the services and aids listed in the Tariff Nomenclator, intended to deal with the most severe disabilities and the most delicate and complex needs, the use of the tender is excluded. ‘contract.

– In order to ensure a more effective system for identifying the services and devices that can be delivered, (Article 3), the “Commission for the registration of aids and prostheses” will be set up at the Ministry of Health with the task of evaluating and approving applications for the insertion of the models in the repertoire of prosthetic and orthotic aids payable by the National Health Service.

– (Art. 4). The commission referred to in art. 3 is made up of six members. The Director General of the Italian Medicines Agency and the President of the Higher Institute of Health are members by right. Non-statutory members remain in office for three years, renewable consecutively for one time only. The non-legal components are chosen from people with proven professionalism and at least five years of experience in the sector of the methodology for determining the price of aids and services referred to in art. 1, of the health economy, as well as of the health organization and among experts in health law.

– Finally, the Government is delegated to issue specific decrees which will govern the procedures for appointing commissioners and the functioning of the commission.

I would like to conclude my speech by addressing a thought to autistic girls and boys: I read what Ivana Consolo writes, promoter of the facebook group “Autism rights and protections”, and I want to quote her words here, because I think they are useful for start a serious and important reflection, and extremely necessary, on the subject of the so-called intellectual and / or relational disabilities: “Whenever Italian citizens are actively involved in the highest and most important form of participation in the democratic life of the country (the vote) , we are witnessing a real form of discrimination: in fact, there is a large number of citizens who, while willing and able to participate, are illegally excluded!

I am talking about the many young autistic adults, perfectly endowed with the right of active electorate who, even with some little help during the voting operations, could well express their preference and thus choose who to be governed by, as well as who to be represented in the various institutions. national, local and European policies.

Young autistic people are not without civil capacity, it is therefore good that we know that they have the full right to participate in the democratic life of the country, but since their disability is not among those for which the so-called assisted voting actually happens, as also happened in the last election, that he is denied the right to vote.

When I speak of barriers, I also speak of this: of the unpreparedness of seat presidents, who do not deviate from the foolish rules that are imposed on them, and do not have the faintest idea of ​​what “reasonable accommodation” is, a principle contemplated by the UN Convention. on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which provides for the legitimate possibility of implementing exceptions to the rules in force in various areas and / or sectors, to facilitate and make effective the full inclusion of people with disabilities. The laziness of a state that does not want or does not know how to prepare family members to play the role of “facilitators” and the many other obstacles that mortify the existence of many of us.

Reducing inequalities and enhancing social justice does not mean everyone becomes equal, but it does mean having the freedom to be different.

Salvatore Cimmino