To mark International Sign Language Day, which is celebrated today, Wednesday 23 September, Cesena FC is launching a new project dedicated to accessibility and raising awareness of Italian Sign Language (LIS).

The First Team players and manager Diamanti have learnt to communicate their names and shirt numbers in LIS, under the guidance of Monica Casamenti, a councillor at the Forlì Association of Deaf Volunteers and a teacher of Italian Sign Language.

The initiative was launched with the aim of making Cesena FC’s official website and app increasingly accessible, whilst also offering an opportunity to introduce the public to LIS and raise awareness of the importance of inclusion.

The videos produced during the project are available in the ‘Squad’ section of the Cesena FC official website and app. On the website, simply hover the cursor over a player’s photograph to view the video in LIS; on the app, the video plays automatically as you scroll through the squad and pause on an individual player.

The project takes on further significance in the run-up to World Deaf Day, which will be celebrated on Sunday 27 September, helping to keep the spotlight on this issue.

“It was a pleasure to be approached by Cesena FC to organise this initiative, - said Monica Casamenti, a board member of the Forlì Association of Deaf Volunteers and a teacher of Italian Sign Language - an important experience that can strike a chord with the deaf community. It gives us great satisfaction to see the Cesena team committed to learning the alphabet of Italian Sign Language and engaging with this world. As the Forlì Association of Deaf Volunteers, we would like to thank Cesena FC for involving us, and all those who collaborated and made themselves available to bring this project to fruition.”