The girl, who was in a wheelchair, died and was unable to attend school

IMAGOECONOMIC

Julia was fourteen years old and she had a dream: to study advertising graphics. Good Camilanese. This is the goal she clung to with all her might over the years as she tried to beat osteosarcoma, A rare tumor affected her bones, which led to the amputation of her leg, forcing her to sit in a wheelchair. And Julia died last Friday due to a sudden aggravation of the disease.

To achieve her goal, Julia has been completing an academic year with teachers based in the Department of Pediatric Oncology at the Milan Cancer Institute, an experiment organized by the nonprofit Parents Committee of Pediatric Oncology. She left without seeing her dream come true: neither of the two Milan art schools she tried to attend had yet accepted her application.

In this case, it is not Julia who loses, nor the pathology she was fighting against who wins: the losers are the school system and the right to study for people with disabilities: «With so much sadness in my heart I wonder how this happens. A girl could have died without being able to think even for a moment in September, with her friends and classmates, studying what she loved, drawings,” says Luca Pelizer, coordinator of the Pediatric Oncology Parents’ Committee, who supported the family in their high school enrollment practices. .

Not wanting to “get used to” these answers, Peliszer adds: “In 17 years we’ve never seen such a case.” like Julia’s parentswhat they are He was devastated by grief, made worse by the fact that they had not expected to experience the ordeal of their daughter attending school.. After all they lived with her in and out of hospitals in recent years. “I wonder – reflects Belisaire – how in Milan and Lombardy in 2023 it is not possible to guarantee that the disabled will go to school. This is while Article 34 of the constitution states that “the school is open to all”. Perhaps the problem lies precisely in implementing the dictates of the various branches of the state ».

The refusal of a fourteen-year-old girl, confined to a wheelchair after an operation to survive cancer, from two schools in the Lombard capital is symbolic of how the implementation of the rights of people with disabilities and the right to study has failed.Despite regional, national and international laws in this regard. “We told her to trust, and the institutions are trying to make those schools inclusive. I am ashamed to tell you this, – Pellizzari admits. I remember her eyes, her disappointment, and she died knowing she wasn’t accepted into high school.” Dealing with children’s illness is a tragedy for the whole family: Doctors do their part, supported by third sector entities “who keep hope alive in boys by bringing school to hospital, but also many One of the educational and recreational initiatives that allow, during care, to keep people next to us who keep the light of hope burning.”

For young people affected by cancer and the treatment process, the prospect of returning to a life that has been undermined by the disease is essential. This Julia refused. The hope is that the 57.55 million Pnrr (Plan National Recovery and Resilience) earmarked in Lombardy for social inclusion projects for people with disabilities will allow boys and girls like Julia not to be heard saying no in the face of the truth and your dreams.