A small group of young women, two of them handicapped, launched a knitting workshop with the encouragement of the sisters at the House of Nazareth in Acerra, who provided space in their building. Work runs from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Some bring lunch from home. There is no shortage of work—the women have become well known, and many turn to them for all kinds of clothing. They are friends who have pooled their strengths and abilities. There is no supervisor in the group: each works independently, yet together with the others.
We thank them and the sisters who encouraged and helped them for the example they give us of a small, constructive, fruitful working community.
Here is how one of the women describes the workshop's beginning and atmosphere.
My name is Piera, and I'm 38 years old. I have spastic tetraparesis and work in a small knitting workshop that started about eleven years ago from an idea of Sister Mariella, who proposed it to a friend of mine and then to me. We said yes with great joy. Over the years, different women have come and gone from the workshop—never more than four—and each has added to our inner growth. Today there are four of us: Maddalena, Letizia, Claudia, and me. Each of us has a specific task, and despite our various limitations, we always try to carry it out as well as we can.
The workshop's main purpose has always been, beyond the work itself, the welcoming of one another. Among us there is respect and esteem, but above all love. So I can say that we are truly a small community, and by doing this we hope to show that despite handicap, we can live a normal life.
- Piera
With the mentally handicapped adult, too, we must think about "the future." First, because life does not end at 25, or 35, or 40. And because this developmental delay, as such—not as radical weakness or inevitable deficiency—can create different problems at 30 than it does at 10 or 15.
Henri Bissonier
When someone is maladjusted or delayed in intellectual development, this deficit shapes his entire personality.
We cannot ignore a painful truth: more so than in a child, the gap between our young person and the "normal" will present us with real problems. His pace is slow. His reasoning is limited. Expression comes hard. Understanding is constrained. His whole behavior is hampered by his handicap.
Our approach must always account for this:
- do not expect him to be like the others at any cost;
- do not push beyond his capacity;
- keep our language simple;
- let our dialogue appeal to his intuition;
- let our patience wait days, weeks, without losing heart.
- Ask of him only efforts he can manage. Do not burden him with knowledge he cannot digest or use.
- Anne Yvonne Bouts