Arrives in Genoa at inclusion school, Giocando s'impara

The Italian Union for the Fight against Muscular Dystrophy continues the national promotion of the initiative to raise awareness on the issue of disability with, Giocando s'impara.

At school of inclusion, Giocando learns 17 municipal administrations and as many schools, as well as installing accessible games in green areas and national parks.

The Italian Union for the Fight against Muscular Dystrophy – UILDM has recently started the first phase of the project "At school of inclusion: playing and learning", the awareness-raising initiative that won the second edition of the "single call" envisaged by the reform of the Third sector, issued in November 2018 and financed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies.

The project intends to promote and encourage the socialization of children and young people with disabilities, in order to reduce inequalities and discrimination, and contribute to making public places more accessible and accessible to all, through the involvement of 17 municipal administrations, identified by the local UILDM Sections , and as many schools for a total of about 1200 students.

Through three seminars, the project will be presented at the local level by the UILDM Sections with the involvement of municipal administrations and comprehensive institutions.

After Salzano (Venice), where the UILDM Section of Venice organized a press conference to present the project to the citizens, as part of the historic "Scarrossando" recreational and sports event, it was Genoa where Saturday 9 November at 12.30, on the occasion of the 50 years of activity, the local UILDM Section will hold a seminar in the Chierici hall of the Berio Municipal Library of the Ligurian capital. The project will be presented by Ornella Occhiuto, president of UILDM Genoa, Alessia D’Agostino, psychologist of the Section and Cristina Bellingeri, disability manager of the Municipality of Genoa. The aim is to make the community aware, starting with children and young people, to promote moments of meeting and sharing.

The UILDM Section of Arzano (Naples) concludes that at the end of November it has scheduled two appointments in two Scampia schools to present the project.

"The issue of including people with disabilities is an open question. It is important to start from the new generations to launch our message of inclusion and to build together a future where there is space for everyone. The fact that disability is seen as a wealth and not as an obstacle can only be achieved if our children are used to playing, and thus building relationships, with other children who have a disability. As adults they will be neither amazed nor frightened to see a person in a wheelchair, they will be part of their present, it will be normal ”, comments Marco Rasconi, UILDM national president.

In Italy it is estimated that there are around 4 million 360 thousand people who have a disability, 7.2% of the population. The MIUR notes that in the school year 2017/18 the disabled students who are supported in teaching by a teacher for support are 272,167 (3.1% of those enrolled). Of these 31,650 in nursery school, 95,838 in primary school, 72,477 in first grade secondary school and 72,194 in second grade.

Furthermore, in Italy there is no legislation on play equipment and in the more than 8,000 Italian municipalities there are only just over 430 parks or green areas that include at least one accessible carousel, just over 5% of the Italian total.

The project "At school of inclusion: playing and learning" involves the collaboration and networking of a series of active subjects including the 65 Sections of UILDM, 17 local administrations and the students of 17 schools on the Italian territory. It will be developed in five phases, with a total duration of 18 months. In the first part, through seminars, the project will be presented at the local level at the UILDM Sections with the involvement of municipal administrations and local comprehensive institutes.

The second phase involves the implementation of awareness-raising activities on the issue of disability in schools participating in the project. Subsequently the UILDM Sections and the local administrations will identify 17 green areas and parks to be redeveloped with the installation of games accessible to children with disabilities.

The fourth phase of the project will be structured in the organization of public events that will see the participation of the "Wheelchair Thieves", a musical group composed of members with different types of disabilities, both psychic and physical, and schools involved in the second phase. In this way we intend to spread a culture of disability more attentive to the person, integrated into the social context.
At the end an activity will be launched to assess the impact of the project on the territory. This is an element of particular novelty because it will make it possible to increasingly orient choices towards the real needs of the subjects who have interacted with the project.