«Today we reach another fundamental milestone. In fact, on the eve of our celebratory day, an important bill was approved, which recognizes deafblindness as a unique disability, without discrimination between people with the same conditions who developed at different ages”: this is what Rossano Bartoli, president of the Lega Foundation, said. Filo d’Oro, commenting on the provision that preceded the institutional event intended to kick off the celebrations for its sixtieth anniversary, during which the “Manifesto of deafblind people” was presented to the Chamber
Person with deafblindness together with an operator from the Lega del Filo d’Oro
As we have already reported elsewhere in our newspaper, the Council of Ministers has approved a measure aimed at guaranteeing the recognition of deafblindness to all people who demonstrate total or partial combined impairments of vision and hearing, congenital or acquired, regardless of the age of onseta measure included in the broader reform plan launched with Delegation Law 227/21 on disability, which will accompany the updating of the definition of deafblindness to a simplification of the criteria and of assessment method.
This is a result that has been fought for for years now Lega del Filo d’Oro Foundationunderlining how «the Law 107/10 (Measures for the recognition of the rights of deafblind people), which had implemented the Declaration on the Rights of Deafblind People produced in 2004 by European Parliament, although appreciable in intent, it revealed itself in practice difficult to implement. In practice, in fact, the recognition of deafblindness remained linked to the assessment of two distinct disabilities, excludingin fact, full legal protection is given to people who, despite being blind, have become deaf after the twelfth year of ageor born without any sensory impairment, became deafblind after the age of twelve.”
For this reason, therefore, the Lega del Filo d’Oro itself underlines that «the new definition of deafblindness, with the hope that it can also be quickly approved by Parliament, marks a fundamental change of pace for deafblind people and is of crucial importance to fully guarantee their right to health and assistance, as well as to promote their real self-determination”.
The news of the measure preceded by a few hours the institutional event that kicked off the celebrations for the event sixty-year anniversaryduring which the Lega del Filo d’Oro Foundation presented to the House the Manifesto of deafblind people (available at this link), a document in ten points which aims to draw the attention of the institutions to the rights of this non-negligible segment of the population, over 360,000 people.
They participated Giorgio Mulèvice president of the Chamber, Maria Teresa Belluccideputy minister of Labor and Social Policies and with a video message Alessandra LocatelliMinister for Disabilities, Lucia AlbanoUndersecretary of Economy and Finance e Orazio Schillaci, Minister of Health. The president was present for the Lega del Filo d’Oro Rossano Bartoli, Carlo Riccipresident of the Technical, Scientific and Ethics Committee, Francesco Mercuriopresident of the Committee of Deafblind People, Daniele Orlandinipresident of the Family Committee, with the testimonies of the educator Manola Drum and the volunteer Antonella Nibaldi. Furthermore, testimonials and “historical” friends of the Foundation also participated, Renzo Arbore And Neri Marcorè.
«Today – he declares Rossano Bartoli – the Lega del Filo d’Oro reaches another fundamental goal. In fact, on the eve of our celebratory day, a very important Bill for all deafblind people was approved, which recognizes deafblindness as single disability, without discrimination between people with the same conditions developed at different ages. This significant step makes us look to the future with greater hope and lays the foundations for a more inclusive and respectful society.”
«The event at the Chamber – he adds – seals the commitment that, as the Lega del Filo d’Oro, we have been carrying out for sixty years now and looks at the further goals that we hope to be able to achieve thanks to everyone’s support. Our goal is to guarantee a better future for those who cannot see or hear and for their families, who place their trust in us every day. We firmly believe, and we have had proof of this, that with the support of the institutions and the population as a whole, the current challenges can be overcome to create a more equitable and accessible society. I would therefore like to thank all the institutions for having accepted our requests and having guaranteed this precious opportunity for discussion.” (SB)
It is available at this link a further in-depth text. For further information: Alessandra Dinatolo ([email protected]); Virginia Matteucci ([email protected]); Chiara Ambrogini ([email protected]).
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