Full house Saturday 22 June at Palaborsani of Castellanza For “Vecsport: talent beyond limits“, an initiative organized by the Diversity & Inclusion team of the Castellanza company Vector and sponsored by the Italian Paralympic Committee and the Municipality of Castellanza.
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Paralympic sport and inclusion, a special day at PalaBorsani 4 of 27
A day dedicated to sport, work and inclusion
Many sporting activities were offered during this morning to which participants had free access: football for the visually impaired, sitting volleyball, table tennis, hand biking and a demonstration of a wheelchair rugby match. «For us it is a special day – underlined the managing director of Vector’s Castellanza headquarters Andrea Buttà -, comes to the conclusion of our Diversity & Inclusion journey, even if in reality it is only a stage. We worked on visible and invisible disabilities; being able to give back to the territory our experience over the last two years on these issues is truly precious for us. We are trying to demonstrate a new way of doing business by taking on board some of the social issues that our world is shouting out loud.”
Sport is an inclusive world where there are no barriers
«During the Diversity & Inclusion process – he explained Camilla Buttà – we met a lot of talented people who shared their testimonies. These people found in the sport an inclusive world, ready to welcome them and which managed to focus attention on their talent and the reflection that arose spontaneously was: “How wonderful it would be if people with disabilities could express their talent even in the world of work, which unfortunately still doesn’t happen now””.
There are still many barriers to overcome. «In my opinion – she continued – the first barrier to break down is the cultural one, diversity should not scare us. The aim of today is precisely to put ourselves in the shoes of others and be guided by people with disabilities, who have enormous talents, to live for a few hours as they live, breaking down these walls of misunderstanding and creating dialogue.”
The positive response from the area
There are many companies of the territory who were invited to participate in this day dedicated not only to sport and being together but also and above all to breaking down those barriers that still persist today in the world of work for those with a disability. “Today I am more than 20 associations present – Camilla Buttà specified – who deal with people with disabilities and are there more than 22 companies».
Around 400 people participated in the initiative. «We are very satisfied with how the day went, – added Andrea Buttà – it was there a wonderful response from the territory. The big challenge for the future is business as usual try to reach those whose ears are not attentive to certain topicstherefore the objective we set ourselves is to be able to broaden the audience of listeners and bring our testimony also to those places that have so far shown less sensitivity to these issues”.
Disability and the world of work
Companies can be great protagonists in driving changes. «The statistics tell us that currently in Italy only a third of people with disabilities who are looking for work are actually employed – underlined Camilla Buttà -, but the fact that most makes us think and on which we must focus is that only 14%-15% declared themselves very satisfied of the work he is doing. This is what entrepreneurs and companies must focus on.”
The Paralympic athlete Daniele Cassioli spoke about his experience of entering the world of work. «I am very lucky because I have my own profession, – said Cassioli -, I am a freelancer. I have a degree in physiotherapy and I remember that the first CVs I sent to medical centers had no response when people discovered that I am visually impaired. Often when you need to hire a person you pay more attention to “what is missing” than what is there. Sport has given so much to disability when it has allowed people with disabilities to express themselves for what they know how to do. We are called to do the same thing as a society in the world of work, we need to focus on skills and talents. A day like this – concluded the athlete – I truly hope that it is the beginning of a path that can lead our territory to be more virtuous on these issues that are talked about so much but which still need a lot of development, culture and sharing.”
