‘A disability is a characteristic like the colour of your eyes’

Marah Rikli is a journalist, trained bookseller, presenter and mother of a child with a disability. In an interview with SWI swissinfo.ch, she talks about inclusive education, social roles, injustice, diversity and her hopes. Marah Rikli doesn’t like injustice. Especially not when the most vulnerable and defenceless suffer from them. Like her daughter. Ronja (not her real name) is almost nine and will be starting third grade at a primary school in Zurich in August. Ronja is a special child, as all daughters are. But she is more special than others: she has a developmental disorder. That is the short definition of the characteristic that makes her unique. The long definition: speech developmental language disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), compulsions and hypotonia, mental impairment and much more. Ronja is a special child, and as such she attracts the attention of the people around her in everyday life. Such as on the bus to the public swimming pool. Ronja ...