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In 1971, Archbishop Joseph T. McGucken presented founder Nadine Calliguiri with a citation by the National Center for Voluntary Action. (Courtesy photo)
Feb. 24, 2020
Christina Gray
Catholic San Francisco
Nadine Calliguiri, 81, living in retirement at Nazareth House in San Rafael, told Catholic San Francisco Feb. 20 that she started Handicapables in 1965 after hearing a priest at a retreat for disabled women, the late Jesuit Father George Twiggs-Porter use the term.
“You are not handicapped,” he told them. “You are handicapable. You are handy on this earth with a mission to perform a service for God. And you are capable of fulfilling that purpose if you will listen when he speaks to you.”
“It was as if the Holy Spirit inspired me right there and then,” said Calliguiri, who was determined to bring adults with disabilities out of isolation and into service to others.
Calliguiri was born with cerebral palsy and raised in North Beach by parents who urged her to focus on her abilities and not her disability. Instead of a special school for the handicapped her mother insisted she attend Sts. Peter and Paul School and, later, Presentation High School.
After graduation she attended a vocational training for the handicapped where she heard firsthand from others with afflictions greater than hers about their loneliness.
“They would tell me, ‘I don’t have any friends,’” she said.
She said she prayed, “Dear Lord help me.” But her prayers were not for herself.
“I prayed that God help me overcome my handicap just a little so I could help my brothers and sisters in Christ,” she said.
Her first meeting of Handicapables was held at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in January 1965. More than 20 people on crutches, braces, wheelchairs or standing alone or with caregivers attended the Mass and lunch, launching an organization that was replicated in cities and dioceses across the country.
Calliguiri earned accolades and honors for her work, including the San Francisco Examiner’s Most Distinguished Bay Area Women in 1967 and the Human Life Award from United for Life. In 1971, Archbishop Joseph T. McGucken presented her with a citation by the National Center for Voluntary Action.
“God worked right through me,” Calliguiri said. “And he still is.”