We sometimes fear what is different, it forces us to open our minds, be open to discussion and overcome prejudices and stereotypes. Disability is one example: it embarrasses us, we find it hard to understand the other person’s status entirely and this rigidity often adversely affects interaction and dialogue.
Viola Mura knows this well. Viola spent every moment of her childhood with her twin brother Andrea, who has a motor disability. Around her brother, she saw embarrassment, difficulties in creating genuine opportunities for socialising and dialogue, the all too frequent solution of creating spaces for the disabled only.
It is precisely this desire to create an opportunity for socialising and communicating with the world, where disability offers the chance for exchange and enrichment, that led Viola and Andrea to devise L’isola sono ioin 2014, the year when reality TV was at its height.
L’isola sono iois an adventure, an occasion for communication, a journey. The reality show has eight contestants, four of whom have a motor disability. The show focuses on everyday, and often complementary, inclusiveness. The group learns to work together, to overcome each other’s limits and gain satisfaction from the results they can only obtain through teamwork.L’isola sono io focuses on diversity as an opportunity for enrichment.
The show is now in its fifth edition and is currently being broadcast on RTV38 at 11 p.m., on Antenna Blu Genova ch. 16 on Saturday at 9 p.m. and on Monday at 4 p.m., on Extra Tv on Thursday at 9.10 p.m. and on Tgyou24.it on Monday at 9.40 p.m., with a repeat on Tuesday at 9.40 p.m., and also on the Youtube channel of the same name.
The adventure is set in Morocco this time and the contestants take part in sporting, culinary and cultural trials. The reality show lasts two weeks and two winners are chosen, one by the results achieved in the trials and the other by audience vote.
Moretti is a sponsor of this initiative. Our aim is to offer tangible support to a project promoting a truly inclusive view of disability. Their travels are proof of the fact that our greatest limit, or island, is often ourselves. By accepting diversity, we start to create “us” and not “them” and open our hearts and our minds to an authentic relationship with others.
