The mother of a man with Down syndrome: He was removed from the center after 41 years. She issued a formal warning to the Region and the Local Health Authority.

Ercolano – A 53-year-old man with Down syndrome was kicked out of the day care center he had attended for 41 years, along with 100 other disabled people. His elderly mother sent a formal notice to the Region, the Local Health Authority, and the City of Naples.

"Ciro is 100% disabled. He has Down syndrome, and our family is poor. For 41 years, he found relief in that facility thanks to the CD-H project run by the Naples 1 Center local health authority, from which he was inexplicably excluded. He's depressed, cries, and doesn't understand this decision, which he interprets as cruel, and now I fear for him." These are the words of Ciro's mother, 53, who attended the Don Orione Day Center for the Disabled in Ercolano since he was 12.

The guests of the facility, around one hundred disabled people, have been excluded from the structure and their families do not have the resources to pay for a day centre out of their own pockets.

The family members sent a formal notice to the Region, the Local Health Authority, and the Municipality of Naples, requesting that the mandatory benefits be reinstated.

To defend her disabled son's right to free care, the woman, through lawyers Luca Marangio and Antonia Giglio, sent a formal notice to the Region, the Local Health Authority, the City of Naples, the VI Municipality, and the Department of Social Policies. "That center and that project," explains lawyer Marangio, "represents for him and all the other guests a lifeline, a way out of the pathologies that plague their lives." Ciro attended the center Monday through Saturday, on a semi-boarding basis: there, he participated in group activities aimed at maintaining his interpersonal and motor skills, as well as cognitive, motor, and playful-expressive workshops.

The 53-year-old was also involved in glass-making courses, sports, and was part of a theater company to encourage language development and combat intellectual disability. "It all ended suddenly," the lawyer claims, "with a cold WhatsApp message sent to his sister on August 4th, a 'Notice of Revocation' of social and health benefits, which will end on September 30th, claiming that Ciro's disability is mild.

Ciro, however, emphasizes the professional, his sister's lawyer, who is incapacitated due to a serious and ongoing mental illness and is required to have a guardian permanently assist him in all aspects of his daily life. He has been recognized as 100% disabled with a disability allowance and a serious disability.

What happened to him is already having serious effects on his health and this is unbearable for his sister, his sick mother and his brother who has a degree but is unfortunately still unemployed."

"The revocation of mandatory benefits for the disabled," explains lawyer Marangio, "was carried out in a highly discriminatory manner and only affects District 32 and the related municipality of VI Barra Ponticelli, but not the others."