Among the suggestions we received from our online survey about Ombre e Luci, one reader asked us to create a dialogue among organizations working in the disability world. It's a valuable request—and in this issue, we take a first step with Serena Sillitto's article. She knows Fede e Luce and Unitalsi intimately, and she shows us how these movements, though different, share a commitment to encounter in disability or despite illness. That encounter which ordinary life tries to avoid, which feels wholly different depending on whether you experience it as a family member or friend, which can be unsettling and revolutionary.
"Encounters are often surprising," one reader writes to us. "They happen to us, they change us, they transform us. That's what happened to me when I encountered disability—or rather, when I met people with disabilities, who are first and foremost people. Over the years, these encounters have drawn me deeper into the heart of what it means to be human. They've reshaped how I see the natural and supernatural order of things, and they keep pushing me to mature in my answers to these questions: Who are we? Where are we going? What kind of society should we build? Is there a God, and if so, what is He like?"
There it is. The thought that something so difficult to accept from a human standpoint—disability itself—might reveal perspectives and questions about the profound meaning of being human: this reminds me of the light that shines through John's gospel account of the man born blind. I still cannot say with certainty that the man was blind so that God's works might be made manifest in him, as Jesus tells his disciples. Yet I cannot deny that encounter with disability truly has the power to challenge our worldview when we let ourselves be touched and questioned by it—to offer us a gaze, even upon ourselves, that is surprising and transformative. It is an occasion for wonder. Ombre e Luci refuses to let that wonder be lost on anyone.