Newsletter

Paralympics: who is Matilde Lauria

Per Matilde Lauria, 54, deafblind judoka followed by Territorial office of Naples of the Lega del Filo d’Oro, qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics had already represented the most important victory. A dream that materialized after many years of fighting, not only on tatami, but especially in everyday life. Because Matilde became visually impaired at the age of three due to a malignant myopia that, over the years, has worsened so much that it leaves only darkness around her. However, Matilde’s challenges were not destined to end and after her sight she began to lose her hearing too: “I adapted to blindness, but losing my hearing was very difficult for me”, He admits. Despite the obstacles imposed by her sensory disability, this unstoppable woman she never gave up. Matilde became the mother of Paola, Marco and Gabriele, from an early age she distinguished herself in sport until she became a teacher of judo for blind children and today she is a globally recognized Paralympic athlete.

“After all the effort to learn to live in the dark, I also began to lose my hearing. I have resigned myself to blindness, but not deafness.”, She said moved. “Turning down the volume of life is unnatural, unbearable. Now I wear prostheses, but the doctors have predicted that in the future I could permanently lose my hearing. The shadows that move in the dark risk becoming threatening if I cannot hear the sound of the you pass and this is the biggest obstacle I face in competitions and in life. This is why I learned, thanks to the support of the Lega del Filo d’Oro, Tactile LIS, typing and the Malossi system and with the help of a volunteer I am perfecting the use of Braille to communicate with my children and with the world around me ”.

Matilde started practicing the martial art of judo about 20 years ago thanks to her son Marco and his teacher, but since she was a child her father has transmitted her love for sport, encouraging her to believe with determination in herself and in its potential. “My victories, my medals and my students are the revenge of a tiring life, the life of a woman who never gave up. Judo has given me so much, direct contact with the opponent, balance, bearing, but what I love most about this discipline is that it has allowed me to get revenge against society: because it is the prejudice of others that makes us disabled, we are not ”. Furthermore, Matilde went to the Tokyo Paralympics to demonstrate to the many children she trains that even with disabilities you can do great things.

In 2016, when partial hearing loss took over from blindness, Matilde decided to turn to the Lega del Filo d’Oro, which has become a second family for her. Every year, alongside the many children who arrive at the Osimo National Center for an evaluation, there are also adults like her, affected by degenerative diseases that cause deafblindness, or elderly veterans of ischemia, unable to express themselves. As happens for the little ones, even with adults the multidisciplinary team of the “League”, after the diagnosis, begins to work on a custom route, which is then carried out thanks to the Territorial Offices, where operators and volunteers never leave those who need help alone, even in the protection of their rights.

Matilde Lauria has made history for all of us, because she not only fought against her opponents in the most important sports competition in existence, but she put herself on the line by facing the challenge against the darkness and silence imposed by deafblindness with rare determination and incredible courage. – argue the League of the Golden ThreadThis woman of extraordinary strength is an example for all people who cannot see and hear and her exceptional feat at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics makes us proud of the work we have been carrying out for over 56 years in support of deafblind and psychosensory impaired people.”.

But as for all deafblind people, which due to sensory impairment they mainly use touch to communicate and get to know the surrounding environment, even for Matilde the lockdown measures and the social distancing imposed to contain the pandemic from Covid 19 represented yet another huge obstacle. The closure of the gyms also prevented her from training, but even in this difficult circumstance Matilde did not lose heart and as soon as it was possible to go out into the open air she resumed training with what she had available, in the middle of the nature. Resilience, for her, means: “stand up in the name of all people who, like me, have multisensory difficulties, never give up and move on”.

After her sports career, in fact, Matilde wants to devote herself completely to teaching judo to children and young people with her same disability and with multiple disabilities. For her, being a model, an example to follow for those who face her own challenges is more important than a podium and any medal.

Judo, which she did not abandon thanks also to the support received from the Lega del Filo d’Oro, allowed her to feel fully alive, equal to the others, giving her a great opportunity for redemption, which led her to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics , where is it was ranked seventh in the -70 kg category, coming from 19th place in the ranking, second in category B1, that is “an athlete who does not perceive light in either eye or who perceives it but is unable to recognize the shape of a hand.” Matilde, in fact, is the only deafblind athlete to have competed in judo at the Paralympics, without being able to use the hearing aid during the fighting. It was a feat, but thanks to the support of those who have always believed in her and in her residual abilities, she managed to fight against darkness and silence, first of all defeating the most fearsome opponent of all: herself and her fears. .

01/09/2021

.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending