Valentina Cattro and the violence suffered: “Disability made me vulnerable”

“They tried to rape me in broad daylight. If I think about it, I feel retching again. ” Thus begins Valentina Cattro, 31, from Turin, where she lives with her partner in a recently bought house. Graduated in intercultural communication, in a career for three years, Valentina was born with a disability, specifically spastic diplegia. We shouldn’t care but this time, unfortunately, specifying helps to understand the double gravity of what happened, given his physical difficulties.

He says: «For short journeys like that of that day I rely on occasional supports to walk, otherwise I use the wheelchair».

Would you like to start from the beginning?
“I was on my way home when a guy started following me a few meters away. I did not give weight to the fact because I thought it belonged to the building, living in it recently I don’t know all the tenants. But then he got into the lift… ».

Did he say anything to you?
“No. As soon as he understood which floor I was going to, he pulled out the… And he started touching himself ».

Fortunately, however, she was able to react.
I went out quickly and, since he didn’t understand Italian, I said to him:“ No! Go to the sixth floor, to the sixth! ”. He started pressing all the buttons to get out too, but he got stuck inside because the doors closed ».

And she?
“I headed quickly into the house and barricaded myself. If I hadn’t had that moment of lucidity he would have come in with me and would have raped me ».

Has anyone seen him?
«Only the cameras of the building have caught him: you can see that already in the atrium he was getting ready and“ playing around ”, while unfortunately I was from behind and I didn’t notice him. The next day I went to the barracks to formalize the complaint ».

What happened to Valentina is considered sexual violence and not harassment, so with the aggravating circumstance, more trespassing. The fact that she has a physical weakness, so to speak, makes this all the more bleak.

“Having a motor disability I would not have been able to defend myself very much, for this I thank my moment of coldness that I do not know where it came from.”

Do you remember who attacked you?
“If I saw him on the street, I would recognize him even if he had a mask, probably not to be recognized and not out of civic sense. The hypothesis, among other things, is that this person had already targeted me in the previous days, since at that precise moment I was alone ».

So he was going without fail.
Exactly, for this reason the trauma is even more alive. Also because once at home I had a very strong panic attack ».

If he closes his eyes what does he see again?
I remember the extreme lucidity of this individual. He wasn’t drunk or drugged. Even today I relive that scene in a loop, petrified. I couldn’t even scream for help, and they wouldn’t have heard me anyway. ‘

What makes you the most angry?
“The thought that such a person is still walking undisturbed among us. Not everyone and not everyone can, in these moments, have a reaction like I did despite my difficulties. If he tried with me he could do it with anyone, perhaps younger, unable to react. This terrifies me. ”

Have you taken any precautions now?
“I” armed “myself with pepper spray, the only object with which I have the slightest hope of being able to defend myself since I cannot react differently, having little strength in my legs and hands”.

It is unacceptable to live in terror, what do the carabinieri say?
«Which from the shooting is not recognizable. They are waiting for the municipal cameras to give better images, otherwise unfortunately everything will be archived even if I remember a lot: height, build, hair and eyes, shirt and pants… But that’s not enough ».

What happened, unfortunately, reminds us that disability can open up to greater weaknesses.
Exactly, this person has certainly identified me as a ‘weak subject’, a cowardly, devious and unrestrained behavior. Being naively confident can be dangerous, unfortunately… ».

What do you want to say to the reader?
“Especially the girls, please be careful. Arm yourself with pepper spray that is legal, or do whatever it takes to protect yourself. Always be careful, even under the house the worst can happen. Anywhere, to anyone and at any time ».

In the case of violence, harassment and rape, we speak of “Victim Blaming”, or blaming the victim, when it is believed that the victim is at least partially responsible for what happened, to the point of inducing him to blame himself. Often, this is found when girls go to file a complaint: it is inadmissible that, even today, in most cases, they are asked how they were dressed at the time of the incident, as if a certain type of clothing could some way to justify certain animal instincts.

“That day I was in jeans and a T-shirt. Clothing is extremely irrelevant, let’s put it on our heads: the harassers don’t care in the least. And in any case, you should be free to wear the clothes you want without having your eyes on them, receive meaningless comments and unsolicited judgments, which only confirm how deeply rooted the culture of rape is. ”

Valentina, what do you like to do in your free time?
I love to do cosplay, I’m a fan of cinema, TV series, video games, comics. In my own small way, I then try to sensitize people to issues concerning skill (discrimination against people with disabilities, ed). But I fight, in general, against any form of racism ».

Forgetting will be impossible. But how can you take some weight off?
“With the hope that one day the girls will no longer have to defend themselves or be afraid to go around. I hope that one day young people will be aware that these acts must be condemned a priori. And that respect comes first of all ».