The prestigious American institution Centro Viscardi has announced the Henry Viscardi Achievement 2023 awards, among which it has distinguished the director of Accessibility and Innovation of the ONCE Foundation, Jesús Hernández.

The Viscardi Center is a pioneering institution committed to the education, employability and empowerment of people with disabilities in the United States. As recognized by the institution, these awards are intended to honor people with disabilities who have demonstrated extraordinary dedication to improving the lives of people with disabilities and have made significant contributions to their communities.

In the case of Jesús Hernández, his leadership in “pioneering” projects in Spain and Europe stands out. Under his direction, Fundación ONCE has reached a significant number of agreements with numerous entities that have allowed the promotion of projects that improve the autonomy of people with disabilities. Additionally, he has played a key role in the formation of the European Accessibility Centre, AccessibleEU. The Center is supported by the European Commission and its objective is to harmonize accessibility policies in the European Union. Its commitment lies in making society inclusive, guaranteeing accessible environments, products and services.”

It also highlights its commitment to “user-centered technology, exceeding the limits of robotics, medicine and everyday tasks, ultimately improving the quality of life of people with disabilities.” And it ends by highlighting how “accessibility is not just a concept but a tangible reality, which reduces the gap for people with disabilities and promotes an inclusive society.”

Together with Jesús Hernández, the work of Pakistani Afshan Afridi, from the Collective Alliance for the Rights of Young Girls with Disabilities, has also been recognized; Alex Elegudin, Advocates for Children; Mindy Henderson, Muscular Dystrophy Association; Peter Thomas, of Powers Law Firm, and Constantine “Gus” Zografopoulos, of Z Life.

Source: SERVIMEDIA

The ONCE Foundation, the Royal Board of Trustees on Disability and the UNED come together to produce open, free, quality educational resources accessible to all people. Each student can also obtain recognition or accreditation for the merits achieved. The offer will gradually cover all disciplines in which Universal Design has implications.

The Channel offers training in the knowledge and skills necessary to design products, environments, systems and services from a universal design perspective.

Courses with open enrollment at this time are:

• How to train in design for all people:

Society would be more inclusive if each professional thought about how all people function, before designing and offering their services. From the educational field, future professionals must be trained so that they become aware and work also taking into account, on the one hand, limitations in functioning and support needs, and on the other, the rights of people with disabilities. To achieve this, teachers also need training and support. This course offers information and resources on aspects related to inclusive education and reasonable adjustments, on Design for All and Universal Design for Learning, also offering tools to implement this training in classrooms, that is: how can Teachers train on design for all people, on disabilities, in their subjects.

• Accessible housing

The home must be a place adapted to the needs of all its inhabitants. The coexistence in the same family unit of children, the elderly, adults, among whom there may be people with disabilities, requires that the spaces be adapted to the needs and activities of each of the family members.

This course offers alternatives to consider renovating the interior of a house or purchasing its furniture taking into account all its inhabitants.

• Disability and Active Legal Defense (in collaboration with State CERMI)

Legal security allows us to live with the peace of mind of being protected by laws and institutions, which guarantee the defense of our rights. Although all citizens are equal before the law, people with disabilities see their rights violated more frequently. In this sense, this course is aimed at helping students learn to identify situations of discrimination and violence, and know the tools and rules for reporting them.

The goal of the course is for students to obtain a broad vision of Human Rights and in particular the rights of people with disabilities and their families. Also of the legal, advocacy, and communication instruments and tools to claim these rights from a legal and social point of view.

• Accessibility in healthcare public

Currently, customer service and the general public do not meet the necessary conditions to satisfy the diversity of user needs and preferences. This creates inequality and means that many people are left without resolving problems or doubts they may have regarding the service offered. In addition, it produces dissatisfaction and reduces customer loyalty. Likewise, it can cause the organization to receive a high number of complaints or reports of discrimination and this can affect loyalty.

This course offers a description of the various profiles of clients and users, paying particular attention to people with disabilities who have certain accessibility needs. Likewise, it presents the guidelines for effective attention to the public with disabilities.

All these courses can be taken until March 24, 2024.

More information: ONCE Foundation Channel at UNED

ONCE Foundation is looking for ‘startups’ that work in the field of disabilities or older people and that have some experience in the market to help them address their main growth challenges and thus improve their quality of life.

To make this possible, the entity presents a renewed version of its acceleration program, which from now on will be called growth, and which aims to support the evolution of the business fabric in the field of disability and older people . The initiative will be carried out in collaboration with PwC.

“At Fundación ONCE we have been promoting the acceleration of projects and startups related to disability for years. What previous editions have taught us is that these projects, in addition to collaborating in improving the quality of life of people with disabilities, allow us to generate business models and solutions that provide innovation, talent and improvements to the entire society,” explains Jesús Hernández, director of Accessibility and Innovation at Fundación ONCE. “With the launch of this growth program,” he continues, “we want to continue being a key player, an engine of growth in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of disabilities and older people.”

From this perspective, the ONCE Foundation Business Growth Program looks for companies in the field of disabilities or older people that have a certain history in the market and are in a growth phase to help them at this stage.

The program will have a team of growth experts who will advise companies through the development of specific projects tailored to their needs. It will focus, therefore, on finding solutions to the barriers that prevent them from growing more quickly. Companies will thus have a specific and personalized service that resolves any need related to the business, the structure of the company or its capital.

The growth program will have an estimated duration of between 8 and 12 weeks, although it may be increased for some more time if considered necessary.

The deadline to request participation in this business growth initiative ends on March 8 and those interested in submitting applications can do so now through the following link https://www.fundaciononce.es/es/programa-de -foundation-growth-on…

The ONCE Foundation Business Acceleration Program, which is the seed of growth, has supported the promotion of more than fifteen innovative projects capable of impacting the improvement of the quality of life of people with disabilities in their four editions. These include, for example, Showee – a company that designs and manufactures eco-smart and accessible shower columns that transform the showering experience for people with reduced mobility – or Depencare – a service company that seeks to guarantee quality care and access to caregivers in the most depopulated areas of Spanish territory -.

Source: ONCE Foundation

The Royal Palace of Aranjuez hosted this Monday, in an event chaired by Her Majesty Queen Letizia, the delivery of the Queen Letizia National Disability Awards 2022, the awards of the Royal Board of Trustees on Disability , autonomous body of the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030, which in this edition have been awarded to the researcher Elena García Armada, the Zaragoza City Council, Fedace Empleo, the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, Luis Leardy Antolín, Luis Cayo Pérez Bueno , the El Sol Public School and the ONCE Foundation.

These awards, for the first time with the category of ‘National Award’ of the Government of Spain, are intended to stimulate and recognize the trajectory, dedication and contribution of people and public and private entities in matters of inclusion, full citizenship and effective enjoyment of the human rights of people with disabilities, with special attention to women and girls with disabilities, mothers and caregivers of people with disabilities, and rural areas. A task, in short, that has involved the effective application of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities through research, social innovation, employment, culture, health, sport, leisure, education, justice, universal accessibility or independent living.

Source and more information: Royal Board on Disability