This is a book you can open anywhere. Pick any page, any passage that speaks to you, and you will find strength, hope, and gratitude for the young woman who wrote it—for her willingness to share the stages of her life, to introduce us to those who have stood beside her, and to show us where her refusal to give up and her joy come from. It speaks to young people and to parents of children with disabilities. On the first page, a dedication: "To my parents, with gratitude."
Tina Salvi is thirty-five years old. She has spastic tetraplegia and severe difficulties with movement and speech. Yet this book glows with the brightness of her eyes, her determination to express herself, to work, to reach out and befriend others. Tina has done it. She does it still. Each letter of the alphabet opens a word on which the author meditates—on her own life, and on all our lives. Love, Courage, Gift, Suffering, Parents, Handicap, a Smile. And the Aunt that she has become. Each word spirals outward from her experience to touch everyone around her, carrying her strength and her joy, but also her clear-eyed awareness of the great struggles we all face.
This book was published privately, funded by Tina's family and friends. To order a copy, write directly to the author: Via Ospedaletto, 28 - 24031 Almenno S. Salvatore (BG).
- Natalia Livi, 1993