“The main barriers are the cultural ones and we still have a lot of work to be done there: everyone must understand that difference enriches and it’s necessary in an inclusive society”. These are some of the ideas that Jorge Cardona, full university professor of the Faculty of Law of the Universitat de València and member of United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, has exposed today, Monday, in the opening conference on the occasion of UV’s Integration Week.
For this reason “if we achieve an inclusive education, we’ll build an inclusive society”, because the society that isn’t inclusive “it isn’t equitable, it’s more unfair and it isn’t democratic” he concluded.
Cardona has participated in the first conference day of UV’s Integration Week, through the Unit for Integration of People with Disabilities, that will take place during 1, 3 and 5 December on the occasion of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, established by United Nations the 3 December 1992. This year, these conferences have the support of Sustainability Campus and the collaboration of the NGDO Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD).
In his speech, Jorge Cardona has alluded to the Universitat de València as the academic institution “pioneer and reference University for Spanish Institutions in terms of integration”. This way, he has focused his speech on the history of the rights of persons with disabilities, since the tradition of considering a child as a right “subject”, to the celebration of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006, passing through the legal evolution to protect the vulnerable groups, such as child, women and persons with disabilities.
However, Cardona has focused specially in education and he has argued that the paradigm of exclusion in primary school has been changing to arrive to integration concept, that is, student’s adaptation to school and from there to inclusion, and in this case, it is the school which have to adapt to differences among students. “Being different enriches because there isn’t two identic people” he stated.
On Jorge Cardona opinion, the Convention of 2006 is a turning point in people with disabilities rights recognition, given that in educational field a quality inclusive education is a right. “This is a right that all children have. Moreover, it talks about diversity and not disability trying this way prevent exclusion”, he has explained.
Socio-educational inclusion, a compromise
The opening ceremony has been chaired by Esteban Morcillo, Principal of the Universitat de València, who has been accompanied by María Vicenta Mestre, Vice-Principal for Teaching Staff and Academic Planning, and María Elena Olmos, dean of the Faculty of Law.
According to the Principal, “University isn’t just a place of creation and exchange of knowledge, it is a model institution for society and it reflects in it through its values. Therefore, diversity inclusion is one of its main responsibilities”.
In this sense, Esteban Morcillo has made a call to all members of university community to “make this compromise their own”. “Just this way we could progress in disability”, he assured.
Likewise, he has affirmed that the Universitat de València is “proud” of being the first Spanish university with more than 1,100 students with disabilities. Also, it is pioneer in management of a lecturers and administration and services staff attention programme. “Because we want to be an integration university”, he added.
Maria Vicenta Mestre has agreed with this point. She has described the Universitat de València as a “leader” in disabilities terms. Besides, she has focused on the importance of working life and professional inclusion of this group, further than academic training, and she has stated that “we have to encourage the percentage of students with disabilities, from the minimization of educative barriers in primary and secondary school”. In addition, the vice-principal has reminded inclusive campus of the Universitat de València, some teambuilding days for students from other Autonomous communities can come to visit this academic institution to know its work from the inside.
María Elena Olmos, for her part, has defended university and all its members’ involvement in “the development of an educative and social inclusion of people with disabilities to help in the building of a more equitable and fair society”.
This ceremony was attended by Cristóbal Suria, General Manager of the UV General Foundation, Celeste Asensi, director of the Unit for Integration of People with Disabilities, as well as some representatives of ONCE (Spanish National Organisation for the Blind) and AVAPACE (Valencian Support to Cerebral Palsy Association), among others organizations and important figures who work on integration field.
Throughout the morning, it will take place different sessions such as a round-table meeting about early intervention and an experiences round-table meeting, where all participants (lecturers and students of the Universitat de València, as well as members of associative movements about integration) will share their personal and professional experiences.
This first conference day will be closed by Cristóbal Suria, Celeste Asensi and the director of the Spanish Office of GNRD, Diana Zarzo.
Workshops and therapies
On 3 and 5 December, on the occasion of UV Integration Week, it will be organised five workshops and a round-table meeting that will focus on grants and helps to students and putting therapeutics technics adapted for integration of persons with disabilities into practice.
Wednesday, 3 December, at 12:00, the Computer room of Unit for the Integration of People with Disabilities (Faculty of Psychology, Blasco Ibañez Campus) will host a session of technics against stress given by Amelia Catalán, director of clinical and formative Psychology Centres. At 12:00, it will take place in "María Moliner" Library of Education (Tarongers Campus) an introduction workshop into sign language that will be extended to a second session at 16:00 that will take place in the same place. At 17:00, a round-table meeting about Erasmus Grant will close this conference day. It will be led by Sandra Alunda, from Erasmus Students Association of the Universitat de València.
This Integration Week will end on Friday 5 December, with two more workshops. One about laughter therapy, traditional in these conferences, given by Paqui García, body therapist, in the Aula LTA of the Faculty of Psychology; and a new session about Sign Language that, this time, will be in the Computer Room of the Unit for the Integration, in the Faculty of Psychology.
The closing ceremony will be a certificate-giving ceremony for volunteers that work during the whole academic year with technical staff of the Unit for Integration of People with Disabilities to facilitate the socio-educational integration of students with disabilities into university community.
COCEMFE Valencia 2014 Awards
The Universitat de València has been awarded in the sixth COCEMFE Valencia 2014 Awards for its work in a complete integration and socio-educational regulations of students with Physical disabilities, a work realized by the Unity for Integration of People with Disabilities. The general manager of the UV General Foundation, Cristóbal Suria, received the award.
This giving ceremony took place last Thursday, 27 November, in the Trafalgar Municipal Center in Valencia. Cristóbal Suria, as the awarded academic institution representative, received this award from the secretary of COCEMFE Valencia, Eusebio Martínez.
Beyond the Universitat de València, other institutions have been also awarded: Rotary Valencia Feria Mediterráneo Club by its work in development services to the Comunitat and the support of vulnerable groups and their support to COCEMFE Valencia in their development programmes; the Valencian Community Volunteer Platform by their work in promoting and encouraging voluntary work in Valencian society; and Quirumed S.L. by its collaboration and support to COCEMFE Valencia and its support in integration in working life of people with disability.
With these awards, Persons with Physical and Organ Disabilities Associations of Valencia thanks publically all the awarded by their collaboration “to achieve that people with physical and organ disabilities can go on fighting every day to break the uncountable walls that still exist”, the organization states.
Encourage equality opportunities
The Unit for Integration of People with Disabilities (UPD), settled in the UV General Foundation, celebrates this year its twentieth anniversary. For ages, the Universitat de València has been the first Spanish academic institution with the highest number of enrolled students with disabilities. Indeed, 2014-2015 academic year has more than 1,100 students with disabilities in their classrooms, being this way an educative and social integration reference institution.
This Unit, directed by Celeste Asensi, is a service formed by a multidisciplinary team which aim to pay attention, advice and support about disabilities field in the whole university community. Their main mission is to encourage the equality opportunities among everyone that is part of the Universitat, through some actions collected in psychoeducational advice programmes; equality opportunities; awareness, training and voluntary work; universal accessibility and lecturing attention.
Since 2005, UPD has the certification of the Quality Management System, according to the Standard ISO 9001:2008 and the Services Charter prepared in 2008. In September 2012, the Universitat de València received the AENOR certificate for the universal accessibility of the “María Moliner” Library of Education, an important award inside the UV’s Sustainable Campus programme, supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport through the Universal Accessibility and Integration programme of the VLC/Campus.
This way, all work developed by the Universitat de València has been awarded several times, among which it stands out the award to the best organisation in the public sector (Mejor Organización del Sector Público), given by the Tefónica Ability Awards 2012. This award appreciates Spanish firms and institutions by their social encouragement in manners of disability issues as an added value of organizations. Also, in 2013 it was awarded by the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities (CERMI).
Last update: 1 de december de 2014 12:00.
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