An Italian campaign for disabled people is underway in El Salvador

(ANSA) – SAN SALVADOR, NOV 13 – The Italian NGO EducAid has launched the ‘Yo Puedo’ campaign, a national movement to raise awareness of the rights and empowerment of people with disabilities in El Salvador. The objective of the initiative is to promote an inclusive society, in which every person is seen as a subject with rights and opportunities. The program includes a series of activities that will contribute to creating an environment conducive to people with disabilities and their full participation in social, economic and cultural life in El Salvador. The project takes place as part of the three-year Poder initiative, financed with 1.7 million euros by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (Aics) and implemented by EducAid in collaboration with Fundación Red de Sobrevivientes, Universidad Centroamericano José Simeón Cañas , PuntoSud and Italian Disability and Development Network. For two years, the Poder project has been promoting the employment, educational, cultural and social inclusion of people with disabilities in four districts of the departments of San Salvador and La Libertad: Santiago Texacuango, Santo Tomás, Colón and Zaragoza. “The ‘Yo Puedo’ campaign is the megaphone of the Poder project, which is opening a breach for the elimination of the material and immaterial barriers that people with disabilities face on a daily basis”, commented Giulia Trobbiani, country representative of EducAid. Roberto Reyes Meléndez, from the initiative’s consultancy team, presented the Disability Pride flag, a symbol of belonging in which each color represents the dignity and strength involved in the different experiences of existing of a person with these characteristics. The event was also attended by Paolo Gallizioli, director of the Aics Office of San Salvador, who declared that “for Italian cooperation, supporting people with disabilities is an extremely important commitment, since it is a population that lives in a of serious vulnerability. For this reason, we contribute to building inclusive spaces that allow everyone to study, work and live without discrimination”. The words of the president of the Association of Disabled People of Santiago Texacuangos, Idalia Martínez, who spoke about her experience in the Poder project, were significant. “We are discovering – he said – our abilities, the diversity of our community and the importance of making people with disabilities visible.” (HANDLE).