30 images Created 8 Jul 2014
Normal differences, special lives
Mentally disabled people during the crisis time
© Marida Augusto-Max Hirzel/Haytham, work in progress since between January 2012, in province of Biella, northern Italy.
“Coup de coeur” at ANI-Visa Awards 2013
Main characters of these pictures are lively, extraordinarily lively. They think, enjoy, suffer, love, laugh, get angry and the images are there to demonstrate it. However in the most of the case the around world does not understand it and it acts as they were able to survive only.
These persons are living in very special manner since they do not have any restraint is typical of so-called normal people. The real problem is to give them a chance to live and not just to survive. In this they are not independent; disabled people depends on opportunities are given to them for creating relationship, gaining experiences, playing sports and music, working, loving and dancing. It means to live and to grow by living. For that purpose it is necessary a society supported by an efficient welfare with proper funds. However the actual crisis in Italy has brought several cuts on social programs and this prevent handicap persons from playing those opportunities
For the case we are exploring – pictures are taken in the province of Biella, an area of the wealthy Northern West of Italy – there are several issues: the regional government is close to the bankruptcy, the Biella public Health Service budget for disabled persons program has been frozen from five years and the access to the services is locked for funds missing. The request for families to share the costs is beyond the limits of the law. In addition to that the VAT has to be paid by the private cooperatives are fundamental for supporting the social programs have been recently increased from 4% to 11%.
In this desperate scenario, our work is trying to emphasize the significance of Carl Rogers’s word, the US psychologist that based on the “The person-centered approach” claims: “It is that the individual has within himself or herself vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his or her self-concept, attitudes and self-directed behavior - and that these resources can be tapped if only a definable climate of facilitative psychological attitudes can be provided."
These images concern persons with different kind of intellectual disability, taken care of by the non profit Social Cooperatives of the Consorzio Sociale Il Filo da Tessere (Biella, Italy); the photoreportage has been realized between January 2012 and March 2013 during activities and services provided by these same cooperatives, especially by Domus Laetitiae Social Cooperative and within the own structure.
© Marida Augusto-Max Hirzel/Haytham, work in progress since between January 2012, in province of Biella, northern Italy.
“Coup de coeur” at ANI-Visa Awards 2013
Main characters of these pictures are lively, extraordinarily lively. They think, enjoy, suffer, love, laugh, get angry and the images are there to demonstrate it. However in the most of the case the around world does not understand it and it acts as they were able to survive only.
These persons are living in very special manner since they do not have any restraint is typical of so-called normal people. The real problem is to give them a chance to live and not just to survive. In this they are not independent; disabled people depends on opportunities are given to them for creating relationship, gaining experiences, playing sports and music, working, loving and dancing. It means to live and to grow by living. For that purpose it is necessary a society supported by an efficient welfare with proper funds. However the actual crisis in Italy has brought several cuts on social programs and this prevent handicap persons from playing those opportunities
For the case we are exploring – pictures are taken in the province of Biella, an area of the wealthy Northern West of Italy – there are several issues: the regional government is close to the bankruptcy, the Biella public Health Service budget for disabled persons program has been frozen from five years and the access to the services is locked for funds missing. The request for families to share the costs is beyond the limits of the law. In addition to that the VAT has to be paid by the private cooperatives are fundamental for supporting the social programs have been recently increased from 4% to 11%.
In this desperate scenario, our work is trying to emphasize the significance of Carl Rogers’s word, the US psychologist that based on the “The person-centered approach” claims: “It is that the individual has within himself or herself vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his or her self-concept, attitudes and self-directed behavior - and that these resources can be tapped if only a definable climate of facilitative psychological attitudes can be provided."
These images concern persons with different kind of intellectual disability, taken care of by the non profit Social Cooperatives of the Consorzio Sociale Il Filo da Tessere (Biella, Italy); the photoreportage has been realized between January 2012 and March 2013 during activities and services provided by these same cooperatives, especially by Domus Laetitiae Social Cooperative and within the own structure.
