Ensuring that everyone can access and understand information and use it to fully exercise their rights is the aim of the Aragon Women's Institute (IAM) with its new easy-read guide, presented on Wednesday alongside Plena Inclusión Aragón, which explains its services and resources.
The guide was unveiled during an event attended by IAM Director Inmaculada de Francisco, Plena Inclusión Aragón Technical Secretary-General Mercedes Guinda, and Vanesa Monteagudo, vice president of Los que no se rinden, the first association in Spain created by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Inmaculada de Francisco said that, “although it may seem like a simple document, this new guide represents the right of all women and society as a whole to understand information that affects them and to know about the resources available to them.” The publication has also been translated into five languages: French, English, Chinese, Arabic and Romanian.
“ACCESSIBILITY IS EQUALITY”
In this regard, the IAM director argued that accessibility is also equality because “when a person cannot understand information, when language becomes a barrier, their autonomy, participation and, sometimes, even their safety are being limited,” she warned.
Vanesa Monteagudo expanded on this idea, saying that having cognitively accessible information about the institute “was a necessity, because until now the documentation explaining IAM services was difficult to understand.” However, she acknowledged that “there is still a lot to do, but this is a very important first step so that women with intellectual disabilities can act on our own behalf more quickly and autonomously.”
For her part, Plena Inclusión Aragón secretary Mercedes Guinda stressed the importance of women with intellectual and developmental disabilities knowing first-hand about the resources the IAM makes available to them, since they are a particularly vulnerable section of society when it comes to assaults. “Women with disabilities not only experience violence more frequently than women without disabilities. They also face additional barriers when reporting abuse and accessing justice, support measures or protection orders.”
ENSURING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Inmaculada de Francisco recalled that the Government of Aragon and the IAM work every day to ensure equal opportunities for women and men and to prevent and eradicate violence against women.
To achieve this, the institute has an extensive network of services, including permanent telephone assistance, social, psychological and legal counselling, accommodation resources, support for victims of sexual violence through CAIVIS centres, career guidance, assistance for entrepreneurship and training activities. These resources will now be more accessible thanks to the easy-read guide produced together with Plena Inclusión Aragón.
The guide clearly and comprehensibly explains what the Aragon Women's Institute is, what its objectives are and how it can help women who need support, guidance or protection. It also provides an easy way to learn about the various resources available and how to access them.
CLEARER COMMUNICATION
In this way, “women with intellectual and developmental disabilities, people with comprehension difficulties, older people or anyone who needs clearer communication can access the same information as the rest of the public; that is the true value of this work,” Inmaculada de Francisco said, stressing that facilitating access to information is especially essential for women experiencing violence.
The director welcomed this work, which allows “another step to be taken so that no woman is excluded from that information for accessibility reasons,” an effort developed “together with organisations that have spent years demonstrating that inclusion is built through respect, participation and the removal of barriers.”
“Our commitment is to continue moving forward along this path, towards an administration that is close, understandable and accessible to everyone,” she said, emphasising that “we want rights to reach those who need them most and for every woman in Aragon to know that she can count on support, protection and assistance resources whenever she needs them,” the IAM director concluded.
Plena Inclusión Aragón is the largest association of nonprofit organisations working in Aragon for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. The new guide on IAM resources was adapted into easy-read format by Creando Espacios Accesibles, its cognitive accessibility service.
This service is made up of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities from different organisations within the association movement. They identify which parts of the text are difficult to understand and, with the help of technical staff specialising in cognitive accessibility, adapt the wording and design to make them more comprehensible. It also works to improve and promote the cognitive accessibility of environments, buildings, processes and services, making them easier to understand.
