The summer of Youssef, 11 years old: back and forth for 30-40 kilometers, to find an inclusive place that welcomes him. A place in a summer camp as is provided for children his age, at the end of the school year. But the warm season every year “is a problem for families with disabled children”, says Manuela, his mother. Youssef, lively eyes smiling behind blue-rimmed glasses, has Down syndrome, attends the fifth grade, lives in Chiusa di Pesio in the province of Cuneo, a small town. His story, collected by time.news Salute through Coordown – National coordination of associations of people with Down syndrome on World Day dedicated to the disease, is one of the many testimonies received in response to the international campaign ‘Ridiculous excuses, not to be inclusive’, launched this year on social networks from Coordown it has become a trending topic with 11.5 million views from the TikTok community.
The original video that launches the campaign shows a succession of situations in which rights have been denied with little credible justifications. After each story, an irresistible jingle clicks. In a short time from the initiative’s debut, a chain effect was unleashed: a shower of ‘ridiculous excuses for not being inclusive’ were told in short video stories. The goal of the campaign was just that: to populate the social network with these stories. And in just one week, the campaign hashtag #RidiculousExcuses has already garnered 50 million views. Dozens and dozens of stories of ordinary exclusion, such as that of Youssef: “Last year I wanted to enroll him in the Estate Ragazzi, that is, in the programs of the regional summer camps – explains Manuela going into the details of her experience – but after a month spent serenely thanks to a public tender in a camp, I tried to ask other summer centers for the remaining months”.
Nothing: “In one of these they told us that without a self-help assistant paid by us they wouldn’t have taken my son. But what made me even more angry – he continues – was the response from the organizers of another centre, who told me they couldn’t take him in because they didn’t have insurance for children with problems, as if Youssef required who knows what special precautions”. For this Manuela turned to the anti-discrimination desk of the Municipality of Cuneo. However, Youssef’s mother also bears witness to how things can work out. “In addition to the exclusionary experiences”, she says, for them there was “a real oasis in the desert”.
Sometimes it takes very little to make the difference: the human factor. “We were able to enroll Youssef in Aikido in a group of able-bodied kids – smiles mum Manuela – thanks to a very welcoming and prepared teacher who prompted us to include my son together with the others and totally on equal terms. This greatly improved his ability to being in a group and following the rules of the sport with serenity, something that doesn’t happen at school where they aren’t helped to integrate with the others”.
For a happy ending there are many others that leave a bad taste in the mouth. And exclusion has no boundaries either between countries or between pathologies. It touches the whole spectrum of disabilities, as emerges from the videos sent as part of the campaign. “Sorry, the stairlift was working up until 5 minutes ago”, Arianna, a young woman in a wheelchair, was heard to reply by the waiter of a restaurant not equipped to allow people with disabilities to bypass the obstacle of the stairs to access the local. “My class had to go to Spain on a school trip. They didn’t take me because they weren’t equipped,” says Emma, a girl with Down syndrome, in her video.
“We moved to another city and went to enroll our children in school – reports a foreign mother – The administration told us that we could register the children, but they advised us to send Alex to a special school, lest he would be teased for having a sister with Down syndrome”. Jingle, another story from Italy: “My classmates had organized a dinner and hadn’t invited me – says Irene – I asked them why and they replied that they didn’t have the chairs”. Luka’s story comes from outside: in the video he is in front of a very high net, beyond which there is a basketball court and a school structure can be glimpsed. The excuse for not accepting his application form? “They say I could have climbed out and he wasn’t sure,” he smiles. “Really,” he presses as the camera lingers on the several-foot-high fence.
“I asked my friends to play with them – says little Mario – and they said: no, because then you’ll get hurt”. But the list of ‘ridiculous excuses’ goes on: Nino lives abroad, he was excluded from the summer camp because the staff couldn’t help him, he was told; Riccardo would like to go to a party, but they tell him no because there are too many stairs and he has a walker. “You can’t sign up for drama class because you’ll slow everyone down,” Matthew was overheard retorting. “At the open day to enroll us in first grade, they told us that it was probably not possible because they didn’t have medical personnel”, Roby and Michele tell her about her. Another testimony from abroad is that of Zunaria, refused from the swimming course (while her brother had been accepted) because, “if it ruins the water, then who pays?”.
The campaign also attracted the participation of more well-known faces. Like that of Damiano dei Terconauti, an artistic trio very active on social media and engaged in an activity to raise awareness of autism. “I’m autistic, I wanted to get my licence, I asked at the driving school to enroll in the course and they told me they had run out of cars”, Damiano recounts with his contagious smile. And then Marina Cuollo, 42, with a degree in biological sciences and a doctorate in biological processes and biomolecules. Suffering from a very rare disease, she has made her way as a writer, humorist, radio speaker. “When I was at university and about to graduate – she says in her video – I was looking for a professor for my experimental thesis and I received many refusals” with the most varied excuses. “One particularly ridiculous one I remember was: We can’t get you because there’s not enough room in the lab.”
The message is clear and summarized by Luca Trapanese, single adoptive father of Alba, a girl with Down syndrome, also known for the letter written to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni: “Guys, no more ridiculous excuses. We are tired of unacceptable excuses that do not make us be inclusive”, he says with his beloved Alba in his arms.