Look us in the eye and you'll know: you too are, or have been, imprisoned. By family. By circumstances too heavy to bear. By something the world doesn't understand because they haven't lived it. I know it. You know it. We've both fought to have our brother or sister recognized as family. The care we give at home—the state won't even call it civil service. It doesn't matter to them. It doesn't make the news. On television they talk big: they'll spend money on the handicapped, build group homes, they'll do this and that. But have they ever come to see how you live? What you actually need to break out of the circle that grows tighter every day—you, aging parents, and him or her? They talk endlessly about drugs, AIDS, prevention, recovery. Our suffering? Barely a whisper. Maybe we're too proud, or maybe it's our refusal to surrender that's locked us behind a fence so thick nothing gets through. We fight our battle every day, but the noise dies in the home. Friends from FEDE E LUCE have managed, with their gentleness and steady persistence, to build a bridge to the outside world. They've let in a ray of sun, a ray of hope. But there is still so much to do. We must break these chains. We must build a life of real dignity.
Dear brothers and sisters: the time has come to stand together. To seek help from outside, to find a real solution to what we face. We cannot wait any longer in this darkness. Dawn will come. Courage.
- Paolo Nardini, 1996