Donna Moderna, the Mondadori Group magazine edited by Annalisa Monfreda, – which has a long track record of engagement with social issues– is launching its ‘Dyslexia Project’ (‘Progetto Dislessia’).

The project begins with a talk show on  Wednesday 4 October at the Mondadori Megastore in Piazza Duomo in Milan that will inform the public and clarify some of the false ideas and prejudices that surround this issue. The talk show – that will be available live on the Donna Moderna Facebook page – will feature the magazine’s editor, together with the actor Francesco Riva, the radio and TV presenter Andrea Delogu, journalist and mother Francesca Magni, primary school teacher Antonella Meiani, the neuro-psychiatrist Cristiano Termine and Ulrika Wiskstrom, Brand General Manager of Lancôme, sponsor of the initiative.

“The diagnosis of dyslexia is becoming more common and our readers, mothers of dyslexic children, have to face the incapacity of schools and society to manage this feature of the human brain, which leads to children learning differently,” said the editor of the magazine. “The aim of Donna Moderna is to make it clear that dyslexia, and other specific learning disabilities, are simply another way of being intelligent. Early diagnosis, through signals that some children show from the age of two, can make it easier to bring them up to be confident and serene,” Annalisa Monfreda concluded.

The Talk Show will take place during Dyslexia Week, promoted by AID (the Italian Dyslexia Association www.aiditalia.org), and will begin an awareness building project, organised in collaboration with Lancôme, that, with its initiative “Write Her Future”, supports the mission of AID to help children to overcome difficulties at school.

Donna Moderna will also develop the initiative with a longform essay on the web, which will be online on Wednesday, 4 October (www.donnamoderna.com/dislessia) that will also be published in the magazine in the form of a special dossier. This specially produced feature – with photos by Gabriele Galimberti – tells the stories of both famous and unknown characters who have “come out” as dyslexics and invites readers and users (aged 12 to 74) to do likewise by sending a video of their experience to the editorial team.The longform essay is divided into three sections related to three realities that revolve around the world of dyslexia: the science (in which doctors and experts explain what dyslexia is), the family (in the word of dyslexics, as well as the experience of parents, family members and friends) and school (also involving teachers who explain how they relate to and handle classes).

The Lancôme project is part of a larger programme that every year encourages and promotes the happiness of all women. Every woman can acquire independence and freedom and be the author of her own story, but only if she has, from childhood, the right tools to help her develop. In October, for Lancôme the Month of Happiness, the company will contribute, with a donation to AID, to the organisation of important training sessions for teachers and parents, with the aim of raising awareness and facilitating the recognition of dyslexia.

Donna Moderna, part of the Mediamond advertising portfolio, is Italy’s leading editorial network for women, an ecosystem that through its magazine,  web and social channels, embraces a total audience of 10 million net contacts, between readers and users (Source: Company data based on Audipress 2017.1 and Audiweb May2017), that is able to extend and develop its reach with initiatives like this around the country (4 million monthly readers, a circulation of 230,000 copies.  7.9 million unique users -Audipress 2017.1,ADS Jan-Dec 2016;  Audiweb View May 2017 – and 516,000 followers on Twitter and 627,000 fans on Facebook).