Basketball, Pallacanestro Varese organizes the first braille night
Varese Basketball will wear Braille uniforms in the match on Sunday 14 January against Reyer Venezia, thanks to the support of the sponsor Summeet; during the match, for the first time in a basketball match, an integrated audio description service will also be offered for blind and visually impaired fans present in the arena. Affaritaliani.it asked Daniele Cassioli, Paralympic champion, founder of Real eyes sport and honorary president of Piramis onlus.
What is the Braille night initiative?
It is a nice idea from Pallacanestro Varese, and in particular from Francesco Finazzer Flori, marketing director of the Varese team, to raise awareness among fans and others about blindness and, more generally, about the various ways in which we can get to know the world. It is often believed that those who cannot see cannot watch a match because they cannot see what is happening on the pitch. And instead, thanks to eye masks that the public can use to cover their eyes made available during the match, everyone will be able to experience for 1 minute the magic of noises in basketball: the bounce of the ball, the shoes of the players whistling on the parquet and the voices of the coaches. The game shirts will have “Varese” written in Braille to create culture on the topic, a culture that is greatly needed, just think that almost no website is completely accessible for those with a visual disability and a lot of blind children cannot they do physical education with their classmates at school.
It's the first time in Europe. In the world instead?
As far as the world is concerned, we and the Cleveland Charge, a team from the NBA development league affiliated with the Cavaliers, will share the record as the first two teams on the planet to take the field with these uniforms within a few hours of each other. Furthermore, in the Old Continent it has never happened that in a game there was 360-degree attention on those who cannot see.
Why is it important to talk about it?
It is important to talk about it because blindness is one of those disabilities that cannot be seen and is therefore little known. We are much more aware of the presence of architectural barriers, starting from a flight of stairs, compared to anything that constitutes a real barrier to accessibility for those who cannot see. I'll give you an example: the Malpensa express which takes people every day from the central station of Milan to the airport and vice versa, 9 times out of 10 does not announce the stops, an inconvenience that becomes a real problem for those who are blind. Our country is full of public transport that does not announce stops. More generally, regardless of the type of disability, it is always useful to use sport as a vehicle for healthy and constructive messages to improve civilization.
The press release also highlights some technical innovations. Do you want to talk about them?
Certainly! In addition to what has already been said, an audio description service of the match will be provided, so that even those who cannot see can know what exactly is happening on the pitch. This is another beautiful message: we can listen to the match and, when the sounds are not enough, the eyes of others intervene. I have experienced a lot of sporting events and, to understand what happens on the pitch, it is wonderful to mix sound references, emotions of the public and the description of those sitting next to me. Furthermore, the Varese arena is always particularly hot and this makes everything much more exciting for us too. The last note that gratifies me is that the shirts from the match will be sold at auction and the proceeds will go to Real Eyes Sport, the association that I am fortunate enough to chair and which in 2023 brought more than 100 blind children to Italy to Playing sports.
Plans for 2024?
Definitely continue to work to bring sport to as many people as possible, through this type of initiative and through the great work we carry out with Real Eyes Sport. From a professional point of view, I have the pleasure of dealing with transversal skills in companies and inclusion. I also want to add that I am also the honorary president of Piramis onlus, which itself deals with many projects. There is still a lot to do so that the world becomes more welcoming for everyone, regardless of the differences that characterize us. I'm ready!
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