In this issue we take up one of the gravest subjects we have ever addressed. To have a child who cannot see, cannot hear, cannot walk, cannot speak—this is one of the most devastating trials a parent and family can face. Such cases are rare, thank God, but they do exist.
With utmost respect for those living this reality, we have tried to describe what is meant by the term multiply disabled; to let those who live this ordeal speak for themselves about how they endure it; to explain its causes in simple terms; and above all, to show that it is possible to educate these young people and help them gain even a small measure of independence and the ability to communicate. Our aim—as our readers know—is to inform, to deepen understanding, and to awaken interest and solidarity toward a group of people who, just a few years ago, were written off as beyond reach.
We know from having witnessed it firsthand with several families that in these cases more than any other, there is an urgent need for friends—competent, caring people who can break through the desolation that no family could overcome alone.
We extend our deepest gratitude to those who helped us assemble these pages. We offer them to our readers as a meditation to be pondered in quiet stillness, hoping that all who read them will find in themselves the desire to draw near, in concrete and tangible ways, to those who carry this particular burden.
by Mariangela Bertolini, 1986