Andrea Attisani (12 years old) imagined autism research as the rainbow that unites the two shores of the Strait while the boat "Wind of Hope" is crossing it...
Any training project in the biomedical field as well as in any other field cannot be dissociated from activities which should aim to create the proper cultural atmosphere for the development of citizens' awareness of the social significance of the project itself.
This awareness is the goal of the "Science and Society" project that will be organized by the CNR (National Research Council) of Reggio Calabria.
Within this framework will be included the project "Vento di Speranza" which will be organized by the Italian Naval League (LNI) Reggio Calabria South Section, and will be addressed to a group of autistic children selected by pediatricians and pediatric neuropsychiatrists.
The "Wind of Hope" project has the objective to use the sea, and in particular sailing, as valuable means for interaction with autistic children.
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Project Manager “Scienza e Società”: Dott. Giovanni Tripepi - CNR - Reggio Calabria
Project Manager “Vento di Speranza”: Dott. Francesco Attisani - Presidente della Sezione Reggio Calabria Sud della Lega Navale Italiana - francesco.attisani(at)libero.it1
Note 1: the email address is transcribed so that it cannot be intercepted by robots that are used by computer hackers to create spam (at) = @
The social repercussions of the autism research project (project 2) will be measured by the level of participation of families of autistic children and of the general public as well.
In this context, several round tables will be promoted like the one organized at the Mediterranean University of Reggio in November 2018 (project 1) on autism by the CNR (National Research Council) of Reggio Calabria with the patronage of the Medical Associations of the Calabrian provinces as part of the various annual summer festivals that take place in Calabria.
In turn, the "Wind of Hope" project will aim to use the sea, and in particular sailing, as a tool to develop interactions with a group of autistic children selected by pediatricians and pediatric neuropsychiatrists.
The Italian Naval League as a whole, since its foundation in 1897, has always been committed to the mission of "spreading love and culture for the sea and encouraging nautical sports in general, especially among young people". Sailing, by its nature, implies the forced coexistence of subjects with different characters and skills who must relate and interact in order to make decisions aimed at solving the various problems that can be encountered during navigation.
This leads the various crew members to take responsibility, to cooperate, to integrate and to improve self-confidence. The activities of the "Wind of Hope" project will consist of: meetings at the headquarters of the Italian Naval League (LNI) of Reggio Calabria Sud with the children and families; go out to sea on “dinghy” type sailing boats; go out to sea on board of a larger (11 meters) sailing boat with cabins and an engine, the " South Wind”, which is currently moored in the Marina of Villa San Giovanni. It can accommodate on board up to twelve people and allows also the overnight stay of six.
The "Vento di Speranza" Project represents the logical evolution of the activities carried out so far by the Reggio Calabria Sud Section of the Italian Naval League. Since its inception in 2009, the organization has always engaged in activities with children with Down syndrome, the blind, diabetics, and those with motor or relational problems of various kinds.
A similar approach aimed at children who present Special Educational Needs (the so-called B.E.S.) has already been successfully tested by the Section in two projects started in July 2020 following on a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Juvenile Justice of Calabria.