Arianna Talamona

Fashion, make-up, reading, psychology, diamond painting. (Athlete, 09 Sep 2019; tokyo2020.org, 17 Apr 2020)

Winning gold in the S5 50m butterfly at the 2019 World Championships in London, England. (superabile.it, 12 Jun 2020)

Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu. (nuotounostiledivita.it, 09 Apr 2020)

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." (Athlete, 09 Sep 2019)

In 2018 she received the Excellent Student Athlete Award from the Italian National Olympic Committee [CONI]. (varesenews.it, 02 May 2018)

To compete at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (Instagram profile, 14 Mar 2021)

She was born with hereditary spastic paraplegia, also known as Strumpell-Lorrain disease. (quotidiano.net, 08 Mar 2018; gazzetta.it, 01 May 2016)

FASHION BLOGGING
She writes a fashion and lifestyle blog, in which she discusses fashion for people with impairments. "I have always liked colours and fabrics. I am not good at designing or modelling, but I found my artistic side in what to wear. Through the years I realised some girls would ask me for tips, and I thought I could influence people. I thought a blog about fashion and disability could be the right tool to transmit my passion and for helping other people. I want to help women with a disability to dress well, to feel more beautiful, to be more confident about themselves and to express their personality." (Facebook profile, 28 Jan 2021; abilitychannel.tv, 22 Jan 2018, 04 Sep 2018; vanityfair.it, 20 Nov 2017)

VOICE FOR CHANGE
As part of her psychology course at the University of Milano-Bicocca she completed a study on couples in which one or both partners have an impairment. She hopes to use her profile as an athlete to make society more inclusive for people with an impairment. "There are too many false myths, beliefs that I try to dispel. For example, it is not thought that a person with an impairment can have a love life, but this is absolutely not the case. I have an impairment but I am perfectly healthy. I can do everything, I can be as beautiful as anyone else. The more we make normal what is different, the easier it becomes to accept people with an impairment. Institutions should work harder to make the world more inclusive. A few things are being done, of course, but still not enough." (vanityfair.it, 16 Jul 2020; it.mashable.com, 01 Jul 2020)

EARLY DAYS
She says she struggled to deal with her impairment during a period of middle school when she was forced to use her wheelchair more often. "I was unfortunate at school in the sense that I have had bad experiences. In middle school I had some bullying incidents, which added to the fact I was in a transition because I was starting to use the wheelchair a lot more. That was already [a] delicate [situation] because I had to accept the fact that being different becomes even more evident. Fortunately my friends helped a lot but it took some time. In high school, from around age 15 to the end I learned to love myself a little." (CheClasse YouTube channel, 10 Feb 2020)

PHOTO SHOOT
In 2019 she was featured in an exhibition by Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani entitled 'Naked. Disability Without Adjectives'. The exhibition featured several Para athletes who posed naked, and was presented at the 2019 Paralympic Culture Festival in Padua, Italy. "I went through several phases. There and then I said, 'Yes, okay, I'll do it'. Then I thought, 'Oh god, what did I do'. I asked for information and in the end I went. The moment I had to get naked, I was very scared, also because I had to do it in front of strangers. Then, when Oliviero started shooting, I felt that we were all the same, it was very liberating. Indeed, it was an experience that helped me to accept myself as I am." (repubblica.it, 27 Dec 2019)