The Doctor Anna Matamala: "The accessibility is a multidimensional tool allowing us to provide the human rights"

28/11/2023

The 5th Institutional Day in commemoration to people with disability has been celebrated at the conference hall of the Rectorat at 12:30 pm. The general secretary, Esther Zapater, has opened the act pointing out “all the action of Government that has been taking place at the UAB in relation to the disability”. Moreover, she has appreciated the work and the actions made from the departments, the research groups, the PIUNE and the FAS. Zapater has also briefly summarized the main actions driven in terms of disability from university. In 1993, the UAB approved the programme of integration of students with specific necessities giving rise to the PIUNE. Furthermore, “in 2007 the actions of the Observatory have increased as to include disability, fact that gives room to the first action plan in terms of disability”. However, the general secretary has also pointed out that the political compromise is not enough to do all the actions and adaptations needed to build an inclusive university, as the resources and financing are essential. So, Zapater has mentioned some university information. “Nowadays, we are attending 847 people with disability in the UAB, according to the general secretary. Likewise, she has named too that the occupation service registers a 21% of working incorporation in this field. Her intervention has finished with gratitude towards the social council of the UAB for financing the Impuls scholarships. 

Then, the general secretary has cleared the way for the professor of the department of Translation and Interpreting and East Asian Studies, the Doctor Anna Matamala Ripoll. Matamala, also main researcher of the Transmedia Catalonia group and director of the AccessCat Network, has started her conference inviting the public to put some glasses on to reduce vision. “Little people are able to bear 25 minutes of presentation without seeing it all”, explains Matamala. The professor has divided her intervention into three sections. In the first one, she has desired to point out the “importance of accessibility to provide the human rights”. Matamala mentions that this accessibility must not be limited to physical aspects, but also sensorial, cognitive and social. According to her specialty, the researcher has highlighted all the facts influencing communication, from the channels and issuers to the supports. Hence, she has made a short summary about the info accessibility services that are providing, as the audio description, the audio introduction, the tactile or auditive visits in the historical patrimony, among others. She has also pointed out the need for these services to be personalized. 

In the second part, Matamala has made a path through the research made from TransMedia Cat. “Our research group can be described in three points: technology, users and transversality”, has mentioned the professor. Among the twenty years of work in the field of accessibility in media, TransMedia Cat has developed services that have been adapted to the emergent technologies. For example, she has named the metaverse or the immersive contents. According to Matamala, “we have a will to answer the needs of users, that is why we try the projects from their beginning, and we desire for our services to be transversal in all fields”. As a matter of fact, nowadays we are working in the ATHENA project, as to include accessibility to the information in university curriculums. In the third part, she has precisely spoken about AccessCat, a network of transference of knowledge linking and grouping all the research about info accessibility, the free educational resources and other services within the reach of all the audience. 

After the presentation of the Doctor Matamala, the president of the academic commission of the social council of the UAB, Montserrat López Merlos, has spoken. “In this act we recognise the winning students with the Impuls scholarships for their academic effort”, has announced. Hence, she has also reaffirmed the role of the social council as a body of participation of the society at university, which does not only do a monitoring but takes part with decisions and strategic projects as well. Once finished the intervention of López, it has been followed by the Vice-Rector of students and occupation, Anabel Galán Mañas. In her brief speech, Galán has explained that “this year seven people of the faculties of communication, translation, engineering and politics sciences have been the winners”. In representation of the winning students, Marc Òrrit García, student of the bachelor's degree in management of Smart and Sustainable Cities, has briefly taken part to express gratitude to the different services of the UAB that make their studies easier. Finally, he has recognised that “there is a shortage of people with reduced mobility at companies and bodies of civic representation”. 
 

The 5th Institutional Day in commemoration to the people with disability has been shut up with some words of the Rector, the Doctor. Javier Lafuente, which confirm the will of the UAB to answer to the needs of its students and build an inclusive university.  

More information: Second Action Plan on disability and inclusion of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona