Kvido Sandroni

"There was such a shortcoming that it was not just an amendment, but a political problem. Italy was very polarised in those years. The right and the left, the leadership of the state - the left had more power at that time and claimed that if we abolished special schools, we wouldn't be masking anything. The past will be over and there will be nothing more. And almost out of political conviction, they also closed down the counseling centers because they thought they represented ghettos, right-wing intentions to isolate people. It was extreme, of course, because there was nowhere to go. In the 1980s, the situation levelled out, educational counselling centres opened and assistants and specialists appeared. In the seventies, however, the way it worked was that whoever was close to the left-wing party had a job as an assistant, because that served the modernisation of society. It's interesting - in Italy, polarisation was pervasive, whether it was about literature or about baking pizzas. It was said: 'You're a right-winger, you bake it this way, we left-wingers bake it another way.' It didn't lead to prison or camps, but it was always at the top of the agenda. So I didn't really go anywhere. One extreme was that the Braille teacher had to get Braille from the encyclopedia because they were making obstructions with the blind. If you wanted regular schools, you just suck it up. That was the paradox."

“We had a list from acquaintances. One wanted chewing gum, another an empty Coca-Cola bottle for trips, someone wanted some goods, a toy, or pictures. To us, it was ridiculous. It cost a few crowns, and then we gained benefits from it. For example, a weekend at a cottage. 'That's impossible, you brought such a T-shirt with the inscription: I love you USA. Thank you. For that, I'll lend you the cottage.' We told ourselves that it was nothing special, that it was normal. They said: 'That's not normal, they don't even have that at Tuzex.' That’s when I realized how the regime had led people into such shortages, which today seem completely unbelievable to young people, but back then it was like that. Even a picture of some English singer could be a big deal.”