Claudia Losa is a twenty-four-year-old from the province of Bergamo who leads a remarkably active life on many fronts. She communicates through a device with a keyboard and speech synthesis, expressing herself with warmth and intelligence. We asked her what she expects from the new legislation on the life project, and to tell us something about her work experience — which, for every young person in higher education, remains a fundamental axis around which to shape one’s life.
My name is Claudia. I am a young woman with a severe physical and speech disability. Despite the challenges and daily struggles that mark my life, in 2021 I earned a diploma in Commercial Services – Commercial and Advertising Promotion, and in October 2024 I graduated with a degree in Communication Sciences – Business and Society curriculum. I am now enrolled in a master’s program in Communication, Information, and Publishing – Corporate Communication curriculum. In my free time, I create digital calligraphic lettering for friends, play percussion with La Nota In Più — a symphony orchestra made up of people with disabilities and professional musicians — and take part in the activities of three volunteer groups.
After graduating in Communication Sciences, I wanted to find a small job — to try something new, challenge myself, and step outside my comfort zone. I wanted to test my abilities and assess my own work, to enter the professional world and gain independence and autonomy, however partial, given my condition. Through word of mouth, this search led me to the world of social cooperatives via a Lombardy Region extracurricular internship program. It was an intense, exciting, and at times difficult experience — especially when it came to balancing work, study, and extracurricular commitments.
Over the course of that formative experience, however, a deeper desire took shape in me: I wanted to try working in a real company. When the internship at the social cooperative ended, I was, strangely, glad it was over. The reason is simple: I aspire to far more than a position at a cooperative — my goal is to work in a managerial role at a multinational company.
I am fully aware that in Italy today, an outdated mindset persists — one in which difference is often marginalized or hidden. For those who carry a stigma — whether disability or skin color — it is far harder to secure even a modest position in a company. Reaching the top is harder still. Despite this, I refuse to stop fighting for my dreams and ambitions. I do it for myself — and above all for those who have given up dreaming. This marginalization takes many forms: not hiring a person with a disability even when they have the required skills and competencies, because their body does not conform to the unspoken standards society imposes; or limiting their presence by steering them toward a cooperative, against their own professional aspirations.
It is undeniable, however, that in recent years Italian society has been witnessing a gradual — if very slow — shift in how the professional and personal lives of so-called space invaders are conceived. The term was coined by Puwar to describe the invasion of spaces reserved for “normal” people by those whose particularities or differences have historically excluded them. Metaphorically speaking, these individuals are reclaiming places that were forbidden to them and, in doing so, reclaiming their own identities. I believe greater concreteness will be possible thanks to the Life Project for disability — a personalized, participatory pathway whose right is enshrined in Italian law, including Legislative Decree 62/2024. This is a framework that places the wishes and aspirations of the person with a disability at its center, outlining a life plan that integrates learning, work, housing autonomy, social life, health, and leisure, with the aim of ensuring full inclusion and self-determination. It is not a bureaucratic tool but a right — one that coordinates services and supports (such as personal assistants, home automation, transportation) to enable a full life, overcoming the fragmentation of interventions.
In my own case, due to inadequate support and insufficient guidance from institutions (such as the local health authority and municipal offices) during transitions in communication, we have not yet openly discussed this pathway. I feel as though we have been parked in a corner and left to fend for ourselves. To be entirely honest, before writing this piece I had no idea this pathway even existed. I likely heard nothing about it because of the scant information provided by the relevant offices. In the coming months I will certainly look into it more carefully, through the various channels available to me — because this concerns me directly.
For now, it strikes me as a potentially valuable tool for social and cultural inclusion for all those who, like me, have professional and personal ambitions despite their difficulties. As an Italian citizen, I believe one weak and critical point that needs improvement is the quality of communication between us and the institutions responsible for this area. What is also needed is a more decisive shift in how people think about disability — so that it is finally understood as a characteristic of individuals that goes beyond the meaning of “inability” or “different ability.” Each of us — whether or not we have a medical condition, whether or not we use a wheelchair — has qualities that differ from those of others. We remain, above all, human beings.
I like to recall a well-known line by Saint-Exupéry: “Make your life a dream, and a dream a reality.” These words speak to the importance of pursuing one’s passions despite whatever limits one faces, and of anchoring dreams to hope and to what truly matters. My invitation, then, is this: chase your desires and make them real.