Accessible video transcript
[00:00–00:11]
[We are in Portofino. Inside a Lancia, Silvia Botticelli and Veronica Ruggieri drive along a scenic road that runs beside the sea.]
[00:11]
Veronica: Hi Silvia, how are you?
[00:12]
Silvia: I’m good, and you?
[00:13]
Veronica: Good. How are you with water sports?
[00:16]
Silvia: In middle school I did swimming.
[00:18]
Veronica: Ah, that’s a great start.
[Silvia and Veronica laugh]
[00:20]
Silvia: You?
[00:21]
Veronica: I manage, but I’m a bit afraid of water. But today we’ll test you, not me.
[00:29]
Silvia: Why?
[00:30]
Veronica: You’ll see.
[00:32–00:37]
[The car stops and parks. Silvia and Veronica get out and walk down a set of steps leading to the beach.]
[00:38]
Veronica: Do you get what we’re doing?
[00:39]
Silvia: Seriously?
[00:42]
Silvia: Amazing.
[00:43]
Veronica: Here we are!
[00:44]
Operator: Welcome, ladies.
[00:45]
Veronica: So?
[00:46]
Operator: These are the canoes.
[00:48]
Veronica: We just need to change.
[00:49]
Operator: I’d say so—do you want to go like that?
[00:50]
Veronica: No, let’s go.
[00:53–00:56]
[The canoes are by the sea. Silvia and Veronica change, putting on wetsuits and life jackets. Silvia holds a paddle.]
[00:56]
Silvia: Like this, right?
[00:58]
Operator: Perfect, just like that. Remember, keep the paddle facing backward.
[01:05]
[Silvia and Veronica get into the canoes, helped by the operator.]
[01:08]
Veronica: Here?
[01:09]
Operator: Exactly.
[01:10]
Veronica: Okay.
[01:16]
Veronica: Is this your first time in a canoe?
[01:18]
Silvia: Yes.
[01:18]
Veronica: And yet you’re doing really well.
[01:20]
Silvia: Pretty well.
[01:22]
Veronica: Do you feel limited by your disability?
[01:26]
Silvia: On some things, yes.
[01:28]
Veronica: And how do you deal with those limits?
[01:31]
Silvia: I try to find a solution.
[01:33]
Veronica: How?
[01:35]
Silvia: I don’t know—for example, until some time ago I used to open yogurt with my mouth, and now I can open it with my hands because I found a solution.
[01:45]
Veronica: So you try to go beyond your limits.
[01:48]
Silvia: Yes, I have to—I need to manage to do it.
[01:52]
Veronica: What was it like when you were a child?
[01:53]
Silvia: As a child I was “the girl with crab hands.”
[01:57]
Veronica: For your classmates?
[01:58]
Silvia: Yes.
[02:00]
Silvia: But I don’t think they were mean—they were curious.
[02:06]
Veronica: Did you accept yourself back then?
[02:08]
Silvia: Absolutely not.
[02:09]
Veronica: And today?
[02:12]
Silvia: Today, almost completely.
[02:14]
Veronica: Why “almost”?
[02:16]
Silvia: Children… they look, they stare a lot. They don’t criticize with words, but with their eyes they can do it very well.
[02:25]
Veronica: How and when did things change?
[02:28]
Silvia: They changed five years ago thanks to social media, and also because many people now accept me as I am.
[02:37]
Veronica: Is there a challenge you’d like to face?
[02:40]
Silvia: Climbing a mountain.
[02:42]
Veronica: Tough, huh?
[02:44]
Veronica: Even this is tough—you think it’s nothing?
[02:47]
Veronica: A constant growth?
[02:49]
Silvia: Yes, one challenge at a time.
[02:51–02:57]
[Wide shot of the sea with the three canoes on the water. Then the car drives off again along the scenic road.]
Watch the other episodes
Season 3 -
With Veronica Ruggeri
