The Institute for the Blind Francesco Cavazza of Bologna has again this year put together some events relating to a series of initiatives promoted and coordinated by the Municipality of Bologna in collaboration with the Associazione Italiana Rete Cittą Sane.
The main objective of the Associazione Italiana Rete
Cittą Sane is to improve the environment in which we live and to promote
the adoption of policies and practices that allow living according to more
healthy and wholesome lifestyles.
"The ideal city is a goal difficult
to reach, but collaborating with enthusiasm and establishing shared
objectives contributes to making things easier and goals more in our
reach..."
The events promoted by the Institute, four afternoon snacks
in the dark, were carried out within the initiatives aimed at the kids of
our city and particularly students in primary schools.
The snacks in
the dark constitute an experience for the discovery of flavours through
taste and smell and the birth of new
During that period, simple games involving touch and hearing perceptions are organized and a story is told in order to stimulate the children's imagination and create positive influences even in the absence of light. It was really nice to see the children, a little intimidated at first, really let go, feeling more and more at ease hand in hand, and how well they participated with such enthusiasm to the various games that were proposed to them, highlighting their great capacity to adapt and their inquisitiveness for new things. It was also really interesting to see how worries and fears that often relate to darkness were overcome because it was not presented as something hostile, where the unexpected is always perceived as a threat, it was instead filled with themselves, their friends, their games and their being together and having a good time.
On that occasion, a blind student read a fable. Of course,
reading in Braille she was able to read her story without any light.
Children were very intrigued and were wondering how it was possible to
read in the dark, at the end most of them wanted to see the text written
in Braille and asked if they could learn to read and write this way. One
of them said that he would love to learn Braille so that he could read
"Even if mom says to turn off the light".
These activities are really
appreciated by children whose reactions are always surprising; they show a
true openness towards new things.
In conclusion, it is important to
stress that what we offer children are sensory experiences for play
allowing them to discover the potential of their own senses and that it is
not a question of experiencing how a blind person perceives and discovers
the world. We think it is important to point this out; it is not a matter
of a sighted person experiencing what it is to be blind, it is also and
above all so that the kids don't develop any wrong ideas about blindness,
about the limits it imposes, and consequently on the ability and
possibility of eventually having a friend who is
blind.