A message of inclusion from Schio to Munich. More than 600 kilometres by bike to let people know about the everyday life of families living with diversity and to promote a fundraising campaign.

As anticipated, Gate-away.com followed the journey of Gianluca Santacatterina. We did so by keeping in touch on the various stages, thanks to the interview with Simone and Achille, father and son, who followed him in the camper van for the whole journey.

We asked Simone what the journey was like

“It was exciting, especially for Achille. The children from his school came to greet us on our departure, with gifts and drawings. When there is affection and attention towards a special child there is all the return you need. And that counts the most. We expected what happened, starting with Achille’s relationship with Gianluca, inside a closed space like the camper van – a little girl asked him if he was her uncle – In the schools we visited, there was a wonderful atmosphere full of humanity. And that counts the most.”

The importance of the school’s inclusive system and how it affects Achille’s life

“For a long time we turned to a private facility, without any results. Then we enrolled Achille in the primary school, a branch of Isc Il Tessitore in Schio.

Achille’s school is an excellence in inclusion, in the treatment of disabilities, it is always looking for new ways to develop the children’s potential.

Both the teacher and the support teacher are committed even in extracurricular hours, in their free time, to looking for strategies to help the child be better. And it works!”

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“As Giancluca always says,” Simone continues, “the problem of disability concerns adults: children always find a way to overcome it. Achille’s classmates know that if they talk to him they have to do it in a simple way and if he doesn’t understand they talk even more simply. Adults look the other way, they don’t care, children need to communicate and they do it, they manage to do it.

Like the teachers, Gianluca has also invested his private time in raising awareness and funds for those organisations, often associations, that provide benefits and well-being not only to children but also to families. Because if the children are well, the whole family is well.

Simone’s message on inclusion

The message that Simone and Achille wanted to spread through their trip with Gianluca is this: ‘There are teachers who donate their time, who give of their own, but it would also be fair to contribute with external projects that can support their work with special children.

It’s time for families not to wait any longer,’ Simone concludes, ‘but to do something. We all have to do something: a private person like Gianluca, a father like me. If this concept were understood, the problems in schools would be greatly reduced.