In the first months of 2024, the repurposed edition of the tactile picture book was donated to hundreds of Italian realities (institutes and typhlodidactic centers caring for children with visual impairment, children’s hospitals, associations, libraries…) A Home for Fiammetta which last October 28 in Salaborsa in Bologna, as part of the award ceremony of the national tactile publishing competition “Tocca a te!”, was officially presented together with the author and the working group that studied and made feasible the reproducibility of the story in more than two hundred copies.
The book, handcrafted within the walls of their home by creative Roman siblings Claudia and Andrea Sorrenti during the 2020 lockdown, was the winner of the biennial “It ‘ s Your Turn!” competition 2021 and the “Editability” award in the “Typhlo&Tactus” 2022 international tactile book competition.
In order to be reproduced in more than two hundred copies, the album has been repurposed over the past year thanks to a synergistic team effort involving multiple professionals who have provided knowledge and expertise to make sure that the story of the little flame, coming out of a volcano and looking for her place in the world where she can make herself useful and be happy, reaches the hands-and fingers-of as many readers as possible.
The publication, which, in addition to the text in black and Braille, consists of simplified, high-contrast color images, some of which are embossed, saw the light of day in recent months thanks to the Robert Hollman Foundation, the National Federation of Pro-Blind Institutions, Prof. Enrica Polato, an expert in inclusive books, Matteo Franceschetti, an expert in typographic solutions, and the Punti di vista publishing house.
The Blue Flowers Association, which has been involved in supporting the inclusion and autonomy of children and young people with visual impairment for over ten years, funded the production of the two hundred copies.
“Making a picture book accessible for a child with disabilities,” explains Maria Eleonora Reffo, director of the Robert Hollman Foundation, “is not an easy job. It requires a heavy investment in terms of money and time, but we believe in research, teamwork and technological evolution so that this can become an increasingly viable path right now. Our goal is one and the same: to bring children with or without disabilities closer to the magical world of words, pictures and imagination to support them in their development and school and social inclusion.”
