She teaches Latin at the "Amaldi" high school in Carbonia and makes her skills available, with the spirit of a volunteer, to the students of the Cagliari institute for the blind, a historic institution founded in 1895 and to which 150 blind and blind people refer. visually impaired. Giovanna Corraine, 34 years old from Orgolese, demonstrates that barriers can be broken down. With his eyes he does not see but manages to grasp the profound meaning of life to face, without fear, with generous impulses, energy, determination.
The degree in Ancient Literature, the stable entry into the world of teaching, the excellent relationship with his students, girls and boys of Amaldi. In addition, as a natural enrichment, there is the experience at the "Maurizio Falqui" Institute for the Blind in via Nicolodi, created at the end of the 19th century with the very noble objective of educating young blind people and accompanying them until they enter the world of work.
The professor and the app
Giovanna Corraine knows the secrets of information technology ("the most inclusive tool") and, thanks to her knowledge, she has offered useful advice to make the Unione Sarda app fully accessible to blind people in order to read the newspaper in digital format. Now all readers, who do not have the gift of sight, can browse the newspaper and get the information they need. «Some parts of the application – explains the teacher – were not easily accessible for the blind. With speech synthesis it was not possible to read the contents on the screen correctly. With some tricks we have made the app perfectly usable. Now the blind, who use the screen reader, can have access to the newspaper but also to the other sections of the app such as the news and the part reserved for Videolina». The professor shows us how the newspaper can be read with the help of technology. He "opens" the Cagliari page of the Unione and reads, through vocal synthesis, the news of a tormented landing on the runway of Elmas airport of a Ryanair aircraft that left Bari. «I am very happy that blind people can enter the pages of the digital newspaper. It is an important result that enhances the right to information". Giovanna Corraine also shows mathematical exercises that can be done with the software available to the Institute. Among his pupils is Samuel, 12 years old, who perfects his didactic path. Samuel learns to use the Braille display and is ready to participate in the cooking class which will start next September. Maurizio Porcelli has been the Institute's director for a year and a half: «Students are taught how to use smartphones, tablets and computers, essential supports for their training. Many attend university, like Giovanna, who graduated and devoted herself to teaching».
The establishment
The history of the Istituto dei ciechi, founded by Maurizio Falqui, a blind person who belonged to a noble family from Cagliari, can be found in the chapel on the ground floor, completed in 1906, which over the years has hosted not only religious services, but also concerts and general meetings of members. Today, after the restoration, it is a place fully intended for worship. Other references to the past in the austere environments that make up a complex architecture. The memories are also manifested through the photos on the wall of the large hall on the first floor which reproduce many moments of a school and training microcosm (students in the classroom on the wooden benches or at work in the laboratories). Sequences of the very long story of an institution which is a very significant fragment of the wider history of the city.
