Amelia Garayoa, the protagonist of successful writer Julia Navarro’s novel Dime quién soy (Tell Me Who I Am), suffers from Alzheimer’s. In this case, the disease is the key driving force of the plot of this best seller by the popular Madrid-born narrator, as it is the reason why Garayoa’s family hires a journalist to reconstruct her fascinating and at the same time tempestuous life before her memories fade.
Raquel Aragón, one of the future beneficiaries of the Esplugues project Biblioteca km0 (Library km0), which aims to bring culture closer to people with reduced mobility, suffered a stroke three years ago that left her in a wheelchair, with the left side of her body paralyzed. With a certain parallelism to Navarro’s work – which this Esplugues resident is currently reading – this report aims to reflect how books keep alive the hope of this resident of Can Vidalet.
Isolated from the outside world since a fateful October 30, 2023, the former administrative assistant at the CAP de la Bòbila misses contact with people. She cannot go out because there is a ramp in her building that is too steep, which the neighbors, she assures, do not want to change “because it costs a lot of money.” But just as the quadriplegic Ramón Sampedro did in the film Mar adentro (The Sea Inside) when he let his imagination fly to the sound of ‘Nessun dorma’ from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot, Raquel opens the door of her particular prison through the lives of the protagonists of the books she devours every day.
Compulsive reader
“I always read,” reiterates this 49-year-old woman in an interview that was finally conducted by phone due to the complicated logistics of her current life. Officially incapacitated for work and with difficulty concentrating in front of a screen because, as she says with humor, her “head has been formatted,” the stroke does not, however, prevent her from spending hours in front of books. “My glasses are enough,” she says.
A compulsive reader since forever, she used to be a regular user of the Bòbila library and piles mountains of books at home. Soon she will have more thanks to those brought to her by a pair of volunteers from the Biblioteca km0 initiative of the Esplugues City Council, the Pare Miquel library, the Red Cross, and the Asproseat Proa Foundation. Eva Herrera, director of the Community Action Service of the City Council and one of the people responsible for this initiative, a dream come true for many people who cannot leave home and, even less, reach the nearest library, provides more details. An apparently simple act, but impossible for people with reduced mobility.
Reading room at home
Herrera emphasizes that it is not "only" about lending books at home, "but about turning the library into a space for welcome, exchange, and community building." For the head of the municipal service, the project has the added value of combating the unwanted loneliness of people like Raquel.
A moment of company, with shared readings aloud, makes the eternal dead hours of many elderly people pass better, another of the groups to whom this community project is addressed, which for a while will transform the homes of neighbors who cannot go to the library into reading rooms. Currently, it is in the initial phase of home visits to detect needs and prepare files with the main interests of the residents of Esplugues who will receive the service, which will also organize workshops and activities at the library itself for those who can travel there.
A Red Cross volunteer and another from the Asproseat Proa foundation, an entity based in Esplugues that works to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, will be in charge of bringing a bunch of stories and characters to Raquel, who has already asked for comics "because she is getting bored of so much historical novel."
Another of the added values of the Biblioteca km0, on the other hand, is that "it will be a quid pro quo," mutual aid, in Herrera's words. That is, a person with an intellectual disability, previously trained – and, in the director's words, "empowered" – will help another incapacitated or convalescent person. "I like the idea that librarians and volunteers come home to bring me books from the library and discuss the readings together," approves Raquel, who celebrates that this project will help her not to lose "contact with the outside world."
Staying active
Alina Ribes, an educator and social worker who is currently doing her doctorate at the Rovira i Virgili University, is working on a doctoral thesis that she wants to publish, which deals with architectural barriers that can become insurmountable walls for some people.
Ribes believes that with projects like this one in Esplugues, "people like Raquel can continue to develop." "Books allow them to stay active and not lose their connection with the community," she points out. "People with disabilities are here and have the same rights as everyone else to enjoy culture," the expert claims.
"I have an illness and I use a wheelchair, but I do the thesis based on the analysis of a series of objective data, about the experience of other people," adds Ribes, who invites us to read her articles published in different media, such as the digital Social.cat, among others. In one of these, she talks about the importance of guaranteeing access to accessible – and affordable – housing to facilitate the autonomy of people with mobility problems, with the aim that they can achieve an independent life.
All in all, an autonomy that the Biblioteca km0 of Esplugues wants to promote and that should help people like Raquel to open the doors of their cages and fly.
