A wordplay—two Italian words with the same pronunciation—captures the heart of this Milan association, founded in 1998 by parents of very young children with severe and complex disabilities, alongside professionals committed to meeting their common needs. *Labilità* describes the fragility and disorientation experienced by a disabled child and his or her family. *Abilità*—ability—represents the new condition to be reached through a path of growth and independence, supported by the association's projects and activities. At the center of everything stands the disabled child, his or her wellbeing, and the family, in a tireless effort to cultivate a new culture of disability.
As Necessary as a Beautiful Dream
The Play Space: a place where children with different disabilities learn to play with appropriate games and materials that stimulate their capacities, discovering pleasure and wellbeing—touching a ball, listening to a story, tossing feathers—allowing them to experience the dimension of play, so often denied by intensive rehabilitation and school schedules. Staff teach parents and teachers how to play with their children or students, and organize integrated workshops where disabled and non-disabled children play together, perhaps sharing a book. Since 2000, the Play Space welcomes 50 children each week, split between ages 0–3 and 4–10.
Passion in Education
The Workshop of Abilities: Milan's first day center for disabled children teaches 5- to 11-year-olds with limitations in basic self-care to become independent. Staff help them perform daily tasks—brushing teeth, eating alone, caring for themselves, being with others, crossing the street. Since 2008, the center welcomes 20 children daily, from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
A Home to Grow Together
L'Abilità House: founded in 2010 through a partnership with a local parish, this is Milan's only residential community dedicated to disabled children in situations of severe family hardship. Colorful balloons decorate the walls; rooms are brightly painted. There's a spacious playroom with toys and foam mats, real pediatric beds in cheerful colors, embroidered bibs and feeding kits, stuffed animals and weighted cushions to help with posture. With eight residential places and two for temporary stays, the house offers bridge care for newborns with serious conditions and their parents as they prepare to go home; shelter for abandoned or struggling disabled children; temporary respite care for children with complex disabilities whose families need relief from daily caregiving (weekends or longer); and emergency care for disabled children whose parents are temporarily unable to care for them at home due to urgent circumstances or other pressing needs.
Support and Relief for Parents and Siblings
The Family Program: being a parent of a disabled child means learning to grow alongside him or her. It also means navigating life in the city—the worlds of rehabilitation, school, everyday life. This journey is often exhausting and nearly impossible without help; it demands time and energy, both psychological and physical. That's why l'Abilità's family program focuses on support and relief.
Through psychological counseling, parent self-help groups, sibling discussion groups, respite care, and home assistance, we help families thrive and grow with their disabled child. A case manager listens to each family's needs and creates a life plan for the child with autism. Each year, the program follows 85 families.
School for Inclusion
L'Abilità's School Services: dedicated programs to ensure the right to inclusion in education. Educators support disabled students in classrooms, helping them develop independence and communication skills. Workshops teach all students about inclusion ("Rosina the Whale" offers four sessions per class, inviting children to reflect on the meaning of inclusion and respect for others, with a final meeting for parents); seminars and trainings for staff on play, education, and independence.
For Autism Spectrum Disorders
Centro Agenda: working with many families of children with autism spectrum disorder within the association's services led to the creation of innovative new programs.
In 2014, in partnership with ATS Città Metropolitana di Milano, l'Abilità launched the Autism Case Manager—a professional who works with families to develop a growth plan for their child.
Following guidelines from SINPIA (the Italian Society of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry), Centro Agenda offers early, intensive, curriculum-based intervention for children ages 2–7, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The name comes from the systematic use of visual-symbolic supports called "agende" (schedules), which strengthen the deficient communication mechanisms in children with autism spectrum syndrome. For the children, activities aim to increase cognitive skills, stimulate communication, reduce problem behaviors, develop relational abilities, and help them understand emotional states—becoming more autonomous and independent. For parents, the center works to deepen understanding of autism, build educational competencies, structure environments that support wellbeing, and create opportunities to meet and talk with other parents.
Clearly, this is an organization with a deeply significant approach to families across Italy. What stands out, too, is the visible effort to involve the entire community—the parish, volunteers, families with non-disabled children participating in workshops, public agencies—in a new way of seeing disability, providing tools, skills, and opportunities for participation. To this end, l'Abilità created an exhibition called *Maternage*, which documents the lived experience of parents and siblings of disabled children through their testimony and everyday objects, which artist Laura Morelli transformed into art installations. The installations speak to all visitors and offer them a chance to step into the "shell" of these families, understand their emotions and experiences. The association also engaged a professional filmmaker to create a video (on YouTube: *Aprire gli occhi*—Opening Our Eyes) that uses a play of thoughts, symbolic images, and light to convey the association's mission and touch people's hearts. The conviction driving all this work is clear: while we must support families and help every child reach the greatest possible personal autonomy, we must also continue working to open the eyes of the entire community in which that child lives.
edited by Cristina Tersigni, 2017
Facing Real Problems, Opening the Eyes of the Neighborhood and Parish
Father Mario Fumagalli, pastor of the Church of the Precious Blood, reflects: "For a long time, that empty apartment in the parish kept telling me I needed to put my head and heart into it. For 40 years it had been home to the first pastor; it seemed right to place a care facility there. I had in mind a service that could be educational for the young people in our parish programs too—something that would put them face to face with real problems, so that their proximity could become an opportunity for inclusion and interaction. I searched online for organizations working with disabled children. I found l'Abilità. I didn't know the association, but the name echoed in my head because years earlier I had baptized a child who, I later learned, was attending l'Abilità, and the parents had become much more at peace. I contacted them and explained my vision. We got started. We wrestled with providence to be here today and open the service. We faced many obstacles but also found the strength to overcome them. On October 4, 2010, L'Abilità House was inaugurated. Today it is a real, functioning structure, a service for children and a resource for the community. The house is a 'provocation' for the entire neighborhood, first and foremost for the young people in our programs. The best part of this collaboration is seeing how the children interact: their relationship is natural because they see each other simply as other children."
From l'abilità news, no. 1, 2016