Roberta is 28 years old. Her disability certificate lists "modest oligophrenia in a subject with polydysplasia," the result of a "minor" brain lesion that left her with "deficits in intellectual performance" and "motor incoordination." She also has a kidney malformation that developed into diabetes insipidus over time.
Roberta was born at six months and ten days—premature and underdeveloped, weighing just over two pounds. Her first four months were spent in an incubator. When she came home, she suffered unexplained fevers (later traced to high levels of nitrogen in the blood, a consequence of the kidney malformation). At ten months, a severe seizure sent her to the hospital. There, sedated with chloral hydrate in the operating room, she suffered a setback: she could only lie on her back.
Roberta grew up surrounded by professional caregivers, nearly all of them women.
When she returned home, a trained nursery nurse cared for her while her mother worked. This woman had graduated from the OMNI nursing school—the National Mother and Child Organization, now defunct. She stayed for seven and a half years, until she married. For Roberta, she was a second mother.
Pediatrician Professor Bucci referred her to child psychiatrist Professor Bollea, who then entrusted her to his assistant, Professor Marinella Rosano. Rosano had a difficult temperament but was deeply competent, and a genuine friendship developed between her and Roberta. She designed successive treatment plans based on the Doman method, which Roberta's mother, Enrica, carried out at home with the help of young physiotherapy students looking for their first jobs—all referred by Rosano herself.
So Roberta did a great deal of physical therapy. After the first nursery nurse, she had a second who proved unsuitable, then a third with a kindergarten teacher's diploma. For many years now, she has been cared for by a woman without formal training, but one with whom a bond of trust and affection has formed.
Outside the home, Roberta started at a small Montessori preschool. She benefited most from the social exposure. When it came time for primary school, she was rejected "because the structure wasn't equipped for her." After searching through public and private schools, her mother found a small group called the Voluntary Center for Child Integration, run by Antonietta Boscherini. Roberta owes her reading and writing skills to this group—her teacher was a passionate self-taught educator. The group taught only children with learning difficulties.
Roberta then attended a special school, which proved entirely unsuitable, so she left after a short time. She moved to an expensive private mainstream school, "Scuola Attiva," which accepted her without hesitation and proved invaluable for her social development, though less so for academics. She stayed there through the eighth grade. Meanwhile, physically, beyond her regular visits to Professor Rosano, Roberta eagerly did general gym classes at a fitness center alongside other children her age, with a few extra minutes devoted to corrective exercises.
After school ended, her mother worked to set up a work-training placement at a local daycare center. Paola Romagna, a social health worker at USL-Roma 2, proved invaluable in making this happen—a truly capable professional in an underfunded system.
Behind this series of educational experiences and generally positive interventions lay enormous effort: research, advocacy, and the tireless work of Roberta's mother, a woman of considerable personality and education.
Today, Roberta goes out twice a week with Anna Maria Blasetti, a young psychologist who is her friend and offers her both human warmth and real skill.
The work-training placement at the daycare lasted nearly six years and evolved into a job that Roberta has now held for two years—work she does gladly.
Her relationship with Fede e Luce has been enormously important, especially her friendship with Carola Granati. Carola left her own job to accompany Roberta during her first year at the daycare, helping staff overcome their fear of her.
Today, according to Professor Rosano, Roberta is the girl to look at in moments of discouragement—a living reminder of how much can be accomplished when people work together, despite the limitations imposed by disability.
- Sergio Sciascia, 1992
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