400 kilometers against all violated rights. 17 stages from 8 May to 9 October. The longest is Palermo Ustica, 67km. A sporting enterprise and a political battle conducted alongside the Luca Coscioni Association, in the name of the right to health. Cimmino: “Shifting the attention from the person to the world he belongs to”. Ass.Coscioni: “3.1 million people in permanent lockdown. Municipalities adopt plans against architectural barriers ”
The “Giro d’Italia swimming 2021, for the rights of people with disabilities“Within the project “Swimming in the seas of the globe, for a world without barriers and without borders”. Quasi 400 kilometers. Between Liguria, Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Sicily, Calabria, Puglia, Marche, Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli. The longest Palermo Ustica, of 67.
The protagonist of the initiative is an icon of the rights of people with disabilities so as not to be new to such companies: Salvatore Cimmino. A swimmer from Campania, born in 1964, when he was only 15 years old he was struck by a terrible osteosarcoma, to save his life he was forced to have his leg amputated in the middle of the femur. At the age of 41, after countless physiological problems, under medical advice Salvatore begins to swim, without ever having been in the water before.
After eight months he makes his first crossing without the aid of performing prostheses, Capri / Sorrento of 22 km. Immediately after, he begins his “swim strike” to draw attention to the problems of the world of disability. In 2007 he organized the first “SWIMMING TOUR of ITALY”, ten stages each of about 15-17 km, from Genoa to Trieste. In 2009 he was again testimonial for “THE SWIMMING TOUR OF EUROPE”, 6 stages up to 40 km including the Strait of Messina, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Strait of Oresund and the English Channel, where he holds the Italian record of all times. In 2010 begins the tour “SWIMMING IN THE GLOBE SEAS – For a world without barriers and without borders”, a new challenge to conquer the seas of the entire planet.
Now the new challenge supported by the Luca Coscioni Association, active internationally to protect the right to Science and Health.
Salvatore Cimmino: “The goal is ambitious, that is to remind the world that today disability, thanks to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, is no longer a private matter, borne by individuals, but has finally become (or at least it should) a reality for which the whole community must take charge. This interpretation – I think revolutionary – shifts attention from the conditions of the person to the conditions of the world to which he belongs, in order to detect and combat the presence of barriers that prevent social participation.
Starting from the fact that the Convention in Italy and in the world has not only a mere cultural value, but first of all a legal value, it follows that, to the extent that the disability is attributable to behavioral and social barriers, Governments are required to intervene to a greater extent than in the past through a legislative system that envisages the independence of the person with disabilities as an aim, which is fundamental for a real integration process.
“This initiative by Salvatore Cimmino gives back a strong image: where there are no barriers, everyone can do great things – said Rocco Berardo, lawyer and coordinator of the initiatives on disability of the Luca Coscioni Association. As the Luca Coscioni Association we support his tour of Italy in Swimming, so that the problems of mobility and inclusion that millions of Italians experience due to architectural, digital and cultural barriers can be known.
We ask, alongside Salvatore Cimmino, that all Municipalities simply respect the existing laws starting from the adoption of the Plans for the Elimination of Architectural Barriers and that the regions take measures to encourage the Municipalities to implement these plans. According to the latest Istat data, in Italy there are 3.1 million people who usually live with problems of independence and who, due to the lack of adequate rules and policies, often find themselves forced into a permanent lockdown ”.