O&L Meets...
Some words burrow into you, chasing you until they nearly steal your breath. A girl in a wheelchair whispered such words to Laura Coccia a few years ago, catching her after a public event. That enormous pain—shared by a stranger—lives inside Laura now. She doesn't yet know what the future holds, but she knows she must act. She knows she must help disabled women who consciously want to become mothers. So this month O&L meets the Coccia motion, unanimously approved by Rome's city government. We hope it spreads to other Italian cities and reaches Parliament itself.
Book of the Month
Some after-dinner conversations burrow into you too. That's what happens to the narrator in Raymond Carver's story Cathedral, now included in Racconti Spirituali (Einaudi 2020), edited by Armando Buonaiuto. The man, "forced" by his wife to host her old blind friend, leaves that evening transformed. Completely and positively upended. Our reading recommendation comes from Giulia Galeotti.
Debating Bruno and The Specials
Bruno is also positively upended—though for a different reason. He runs a Parisian association for young people with autism and cannot bring himself to deny help to anyone who asks. He's the co-protagonist of The Specials. Fuori dal comune, directed by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache. Because we expect unconventional films from the directors of Intouchables, we've opened a debate. As you'll see, Cristina Tersigni and Claudio Cinus have very different takes on the film.
What Reaches You
We hope the new Ombre e Luci burrows into you and upends you too as it travels to your homes. Rich with content, Guardami, questa/questo sono io includes a focus on the gaze itself: how the disabled person sees themselves, how family members see them, how strangers do, and also the absence of sight (articles by Laura Coccia, Giorgia Fontani, Giulia Galeotti, Vittore Mariani, and Enrica Riera). The issue opens with Cristina Tersigni's interview with Costanza Mestichelli, an agricultural entrepreneur in the Viterbo region whose life and business involve people pushed to society's margins. We'll meet Adama Traoré, a young man from Mali, and Pietro Bigari, a seventy-five-year-old with disability who found relief at Mestichelli's home from the hard periphery of Rome where he lived. Among other pieces in this issue, a review of Marco Bove's new book, Maneggiare con cura (Edb 2021). As Giulia Galeotti writes, it's "the intimate and profound diary of a priest who knows what he's talking about when he speaks of fragility, disability, and limits—both visible and hidden."
Spring Blooms!
In our last newsletter, we invited you to share images of spring with us—a sign of rebirth and new beginnings. You sent so many. Thank you! They're all here.
FantasticHandicap: Free Your Imagination
The National Literary Prize FantasticHandicap has reached its nineteenth edition. It's sponsored by the Handicap Documentation Center of the Municipality of Carrara. The competition awards original stories on the theme of disability. Two categories: adults and young people. Submissions close July 5, 2021. The rules are on the CDH website.
Benedetta's Blog
I'll Take You to Know Rome
Now I'm the one teaching. I'm a teacher and a tour guide. I've studied so carefully and I know everything by heart really well. So I can take the tourists around and explain all the things really well. Keep reading...
Post of the Month
#LeggeBasaglia. Law #13maggio 1978 n. 180 "Accertamenti e trattamenti sanitari volontari e obbligatori" https://t.co/MTjX9bNt6l Bill definitively approved by the 12th Senate Commission in deliberative session https://t.co/R9Ae6s9Nro #LeggiLeLeggi
📸#MarcoCavallo pic.twitter.com/nL4D9lIuo0— Senato Repubblica (@SenatoStampa) May 13, 2021
Faith and Light News
Wednesday, May 19, starting at 5 p.m., Faith and Light will take part in the fourth webinar of the series Una crisi da non sprecare: Family and the Person with Disability During COVID-19. Our spiritual assistant, don Marco Bove, will speak and share a video featuring three testimonies of how Faith and Light communities support families with disabled members.
You've heard their names in recent newsletters: Nora, Flora, and Elisa are Faith and Light's first community reporters. What are you waiting for? Find out how to become a reporter.
This year too, it matters to close the distance with friendship: support Faith and Light with your 5 per 1000 donation. Write our tax ID number 96000680585 on your tax return in the box for nonprofits.
For more news, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Subscribe now to get notifications of our latest articles