The network is launched through the Insular Society for the Promotion of People with Disabilities (Sinpromi). It facilitates communication not only for people with disabilities, but also for the elderly and those with special needs for educational support through the implementation of so-called augmentative and alternative communication systems. Innovation and modernization with the surname of social. Precisely the name of the island address created, among other things, for this type of project.
50 Entities. It is the forecast of those who will take part in the initiative during 2022. In the pilot project there have been half, 25, with a scenario: the centers of direct attention to these groups.
Quality of life.
Franquet has insisted on improving the vital conditions of those who start from a disadvantaged situation “because, unfortunately, disability continues to be so for many people”. In this sense, the counselor addressed those present: «Close your eyes and imagine for a moment that you are deaf, blind, deafblind, people with physical or intellectual disabilities … You will see how complicated it is simply to communicate. Universal fact and law for all. This program tries to overcome these barriers. He thanked entities and occupational centers participating in the pilot project Look at me to listen to their involvement and work. It considers that human beings have a need for communication from the moment they are born. “We are advanced because we communicate, communication is key to living in community and meeting our needs.” Thus he has closed his speech, but not before inviting to visit the Information Center for Autonomous Life (CIVAT) located in the insular headquarters of Sinpromi. “They will be in for a surprise, for sure,” he anticipates. The Social Technological Innovation area, through the aforementioned CIVAT, has experienced an increase in the request for advice related to accessible communication, as well as in the request for devices and support products to exercise the right to communication.
75 Professionals. Those who are expected to join the program. From different disciplines related to the work to be carried out. A total of 35 have taken part in the pilot program.
Consolidated.
The ME Network, which will now be established on a permanent basis, It was born from the pilot project Watch me to listen to me, which implemented pictographic communication systems in centers and services for direct care for people with disabilities. The initiative has been developed for a couple of years and had the participation of 25 entities and 35 professionals, who will join the new Network. They were trained in communication systems, which allowed to improve the quality of life of 100 users. All those entities and public administrations that want to promote and reinforce their good practices in accessible communication may join this Network, incorporating communication systems that complement or replace oral language (use of images, sign language, pictographic systems or technology-assisted communicators), in order to facilitate participation and social inclusion.
2 Specific projects. Aimed at certain segments of the population yet to be defined. They will allow to develop the idea with a greater demographic penetration and in a more detailed way.
The technical plan.
The event was also attended by the insular director of Innovation, Planning and Strategy of Social Action, Ascensión Bacallado; and the head of the Social Technological Innovation area of Sinpromi, Virginia González. For Bacallado, the ME Network “understands social innovation as a new way of doing things” and aims to generate “an empowerment of people and entities that work with these realities.” González stressed the need for a large part of the efforts to focus “on generating exchanges and encounters between professionals, family members and users of alternative communication systems”, since “they are the true protagonists.” Sinpromi’s head of Innovation expects “that 2022 will be an important milestone and we understand that all people communicate from birth and we all have the same right to access that communication. The ME Network is conceived as a meeting point for debate and the exchange of ideas and experiences, but also as a space that will allow professionals to be updated on the communication needs of the people served. This initiative will enable the municipalities to have the necessary tools at their disposal to design actions that ensure the communication of all citizens as a fundamental way for participation and social inclusion.
200 Users. The expected number of people with disabilities served by this system next year, through augmentative and alternative communication. A hundred in the pilot project.
