COMUNICATION

The Director of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, Juan Carlos Moreno Piñero inaugurated the course “Universal Accessibility, Social Inclusion and Lever of Change Towards Equality” which takes place online from today until next Friday within the Foundation’s Campus Yuste training programme which is in turn part of the XXII International Summer-Autumn Courses of the University of Extremadura. (18/10/2021)

During his speech, the Director of the Foundation pointed out that this training is necessary because the Foundation is intended to contribute to the promotion of democracy, respect for human rights and the promotion of peace and international harmony “which are reached by social integration, among other ways”.

The Director also highlighted the interest aroused by the contents of this course which has had a positive response as 208 participants from fourteen countries have enrolled: Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Spain and Venezuela.

For his part, the Vice-rector of University Extension of the University of Extremadura, Juan Carlos Iglesias Zoido, highlighted the importance of inter-institutional collaboration between the General Directorate of Universal Accessibility, the General Directorate of University Policy, the University of Extremadura and Yuste Foundation for the concretion of the course contents.

Finally, the second Vice President and Regional Minister of Health and Social Services of the Regional Government of Extremadura, José María Vergeles Blanca, pointed out during his speech that one of the lessons we have learned in recent months of pandemic has been “the importance of moving towards a more social Europe aimed at moving disability policies towards a model based on human rights”. In his opinion, it is absolutely necessary that “people have equal rights to access the opportunities that arise”, and therefore, he said, the Regional Government of Extremadura has created the general directorate of Universal Accessibility, so that “all the policies that are designed from the regional institution, in all the rights that we shape for the citizenry, we are able to look for the mechanism so that they can be accessible to all people,” he said. “We want to work in a transversal way with the objective that accessibility may be found in all policies designed by the Regional Government”, he explained.

Finally, Vergeles claimed that “the approach to social inclusion cannot be understood if there is no true universal accessibility for people to access certain rights”.
The course is directed by the Head of Accessibility and Centres Service of the Directorate General of Accessibility and Centres of the Regional Government of Extremadura, Sagrario Conejero Vidal; the Director General of University Policy of the Regional Government of Extremadura, Blanca Monge Gaitán, and the professor of the University of Extremadura, Juan Saumell Lladó.

The speakers include the Head of the Disability Rights Unit of the European Commission, Inmaculada Placencia Porrero; the Director-General of Accessibility and Centres, María Ángeles López Amado; the Director of the Royal Disability Board and Director of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Jesús Martín Blanco, and the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on Disability and Accessibility, Soledad Cisternas Reyes, among others.

The course “Universal Accessibility, Social Inclusion and Lever of Change Towards Equality” counts with the collaboration of Entrepreneurial Culture of the University; the Provincial Council of Cáceres; the Technical Office of Accessibility of Extremadura; OACEX; FEDEPAS and FEXAS.