This time I rejoice at the result of the administrative elections of my city, and not only for the result that I supported, but for two reasons. The first is that this appeal will not go unheard by the recipient, as already happened with the appeal to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the issue of caregiversand as also happened with the newly elected secretary of the PD Elly Schlein on End of Life.
It will not go unheard because Vittoria and I are fellow citizens and we will surely know each other, and also because, let me rejoice, this time I am speaking to those who already understand disability. Yes, because the new mayor Vittoria Ferdinandi was the founder of an inclusive project for people with mental disabilities in Perugia, so much so that she earned the honor of knight of merit from Mattarella from the Republic. Because she is a clinical psychologist and knows the subject better than I do, who experience it firsthand but from a very partial point of view. So I turn to someone who already knows me, and who, from what I am told (illness and fatigue exclude me from any active participation) has good listening skills.
Why is Rocca Paolina inaccessible?
So dear Mayor, do you know how I would like to celebrate this victory of yours? So, the first thing that comes to mind? With a nice trip to my Pauline Rock (for readers: it is an underground fortress that you cross to access the acropolis, Renaissance era, bastion of Perugian identity).
Yes, I know I could be forced to go up the steps on Via Marzia, but do you know what? I would also be tired of finding that damned sign at the entrance to Viale Indipendenza right on the elevator for disabled people, the one that takes you down to Rocca, “temporarily out of order”. I’ve been reading that sign for at least a couple of years. The momentary that becomes definitive when people with disabilities don’t matter much, when ableism, which you know so well, is tolerated and becomes norm. And then, Madam Mayor, my multiple sclerosis is getting worse, I have to move on a electronic wheelchair: and let’s say that those 150 kg to carry on your shoulders up the steps of via Marzia become a little problem. Do we want to fix the elevator of the Rocca Paolina? I warn you that I cry easily. I went back there loaded on my shoulders, in fact, only in 2017 with a superlight, and I was already crying: how will I react after seven years of progression? I’ll have to take some drugs, I think. Let’s reopen the elevator at Rocca Paolina. And I assure you that stopping my crying will not be easy.
Here comes the issue of accessibility, my God, how predictable I am, right Mayor? The problem is that we always think that some minimal adjustments can be sufficient, that implementing the PEBA (architectural barrier elimination plans) is decisive, when these plans, although praiseworthy, are limited to isolated, peripheral or patchy parts of the city. I understand that for our beautiful and difficult city, full accessibility is a utopia. I will never return to the steps of Sant’Ercolano, just to say. However, involving groups of people with motor difficulties to see the usability of both the historic center and the main neighborhoods could be an idea. Maybe it could also be to require all commercial establishments in the city to equip themselves with removable ramps that do not cause a nuisance in terms of occupation of public land. There are commercial establishments in the flat outskirts with crazy steps, and every time you ask them, perhaps after having shelled out your money, to provide a ramp, they shrug. You obviously cross them off your list, but here it’s all a crossing off. Can we do something to bind these traders? I am poorly informed and does this constraint already exist? If so, know that very few respect it.
Let’s also talk about illegally occupied parking spaces
Always on the accessibility front, I have to go back to the valley of tears of illegally occupied parking spaces. I know well that the levels of competence intersect, starting from the granting of disabled passes, passing through the checks of those who actually use those passes (How generous are the grandparents of squatters..) to the point of planning new parking spaces. And there’s little space… She’s reading a Perugia native and I know my city’s problems well. But they shouldn’t be excuses. I don’t go out much anymore, but my friends with disabilities complain about the problem of road surfaces like a gymkhana and sidewalks everywhere in disrepairinaccessible (without ramp or narrow) or occupied by cars. Maybe put some parking deterrentswhich however do not hinder passers-by or wheelchairs, could be an idea. Accessibility is also usability and therefore why not improve the usability of the urban parkswhich many complain is full of obstacles? And experiencing culture knowing you can go to the toilet? I would like not to be excluded from the major cultural events in my city because the toilet is inadequate or inaccessible or there are no entrances. The same goes for pubs, restaurants, places of living.
Let’s get past the usual accessibility chapter, also because I’m sure it will have its staff already trained. Surely on the front of school and urban construction and the transport network, on how to improve what already exists you will think about it, or you will be thinking about it. I would like to talk about something else, like social services. And here I can say something.
For example, Do you know that this column was born three years ago talking about rights and in particular about caregivers?? Here, my husband Stefano, the Stefano that everyone knows in Perugia and who works his ass off between his job as a producer and director, stay-at-home husband and assistant to a wife with a serious disability, a ghost like all Italian caregiversis supported not by the State, not by the Region, but by the Municipality. It is a small thing compared to his loss of income, freedom and mental health, but the fact remains that the only entity that takes care of Stefano is the Municipality. I would like to be able to ask you to increase that very small monthly fee which is already a lot for you, I know and empathetic social workers tell us. Compatibly with the municipal coffers, I would like a greater effort or a request to other entities to integrate the income support for my husband as well as for the others. I mean real caregivers, not the sporadic and occasional ones.
And let’s not forget the battle of the end of life
On the front of direct support for people with disabilities I can only say good things. There are national calls for proposals on the subject integrated by the various leading municipalities including Perugia, and For years I have had the opportunity to experience the team of social workers, how they go above and beyond their limits to help us. Of course, there is the other side, bureaucracy, that really kills, but we have to deal with that. It is in the Municipality, it is in my ASL, it is in all the institutions. The bureaucracy, instead of guaranteeing guidelines, becomes a cumbersome and obstructive tax, especially for those who do not have the cultural resources or physical energy to keep up with it.
You know what, Mayor? There are so many, too many issues. You are truly more competent than I am, also because for years, with the disease progressing, I have been less and less active. And I am happy because I think we will talk about it in person and we will come up with a lot of ideas. In fact, I would like to invite you, if you have not already done so in these weeks, to make some periodic meetings with the associations of disabled people who live in the city. They will be able to advise you much better than I, who dictate this piece to you with my voice alone, from my armchair.
I have another request, Madam Mayor, it concerns my battle on the issues of end of life and self-determination. In view of the imminent new regional structures, I would like you to be a spokesperson for secular values ​​and self-determination for a good regional law. It would not go beyond the constitutional dictate, but it would allow us to better exercise what has already been a right since 2019 according to the Constitutional Court. Do you know that the Municipalities can have a binding role for the Regions? But about this, Mayor, I hope to be able to talk to you after the regional elections. Let’s cross our fingers.
And in the meantime, let’s take this lovely trip to Rocca Paolina. Via elevator. Look at the view…
More stories of Vanity Fair that may interest you:
– Me Stefano and Multiple Sclerosis: My Appeal to Giorgia Meloni
- Me Stefano and Multiple Sclerosis, a Parenthesis of Beauty
- Me Stefano and Multiple Sclerosis: a signature for us and for you
– Me Stefano and Multiple Sclerosis: Fresh Air Time
–Me, Stefano and Multiple Sclerosis: We Are Something Else
-Me, Stefano and multiple sclerosis: violated intimacy
-Me, Stefano and multiple sclerosis: the contagion
-Me, Stefano and multiple sclerosis: that’s how it felt to feel free…
Source: Vanity Fair

I’m Susan Karen, a professional writer and editor at World Stock Market. I specialize in Entertainment news, writing stories that keep readers informed on all the latest developments in the industry. With over five years of experience in creating engaging content and copywriting for various media outlets, I have grown to become an invaluable asset to any team.