About us
Me Alla Matia NPO
Our vision is to eliminate the underrepresentation of People with Disability in the public sphere.
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NPO “Me Alla Matia” was founded in 2018 by the blind lawyer Vaggelis Avgoulas and a group of disabled people claiming inclusion. It was implemented as an afterthought of the fully accessible news portal meallamatia.gr. “Me Alla Matia” means “with a different point of view” in Greek; that is how we aspire to make the world see diversity.
We operate with the advisory support of focus groups of disabled people and specialized scientists so that all services are provided with the approval of end users.
Pillars of Actions
- Design of Inclusion Strategies and provision of Accessibility Consulting
- Empowerment of marginalized social groups
- Implementation of school, corporate, cultural, and municipal programs aimed at familiarization with disability, inclusion, and accessibility
- Accessibility assessment of physical and digital spaces
- Inclusive cultural actions and awareness campaigns
Our Numbers
- Around 1.200 free educational programs in schools, training over 100.600 students and 8.000 teachers.
- More than 360 customized training & consulting programs were designed and coordinated for companies, agencies, and municipalities, training over 21.000 employers and employees in accessibility and inclusion.
- meallamatia.gr has over 112,000 unique users and dynamic SoMe, such as Facebook, whose followers exceed 31.000.
- Our #SpeakUp campaign features disabled people in short videos and has garnered over 20.7M views.
- We service over 500 online help desk requests annually for disabled people and their families.
Important Collaborations
- Growthfund
- Lamda Development
- PwC
- Captain Vassilis and Carmen Constantakopoulos Foundation
- Athina J. Martinou Foundation:
- John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation
- Nestlé
- Municipality of Athens
- Praktiker Hellas
- Costa Navarino
- Peloponnese Regional Authority
- efood
- Athens Brewery
- Athens University of Economics and Business
- Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center
- Accenture
- Pfizer
- Piraeus Bank
- Marks & Spencer
- Eurobank
- Hellenic Police Training & Further Education School
Partners
- inclusiveGreece
- Center for Education and Rehabilitation for the Blind
- Hellenic Association of Asperger Syndrome
- ‘shedia’ and ‘shediaHome’
- KEAN
- Impact Hub
- HandsUp
- Puzzle
- Center for Combating Gender-Based Violence and Multiple Discriminations Municipality of Athens
- Inc.lude
- SKEP – Association for the Young and the Youth
- VIEWS International
- Spotlight
- Lazarillo
- Pop2see
Distinctions
⭐Honorable mention at the 16th National Customer Service Awards Ceremony by the Hellenic Customer Service Institute (HCSI)
⭐Our work was featured on the podcast series Erietta Kourkoulou-Latsis’s Kind Talks
⭐ Marketing Promotional Awards 2023:
A gold award for our cooperation with Praktiker Hellas in the
“Open Home” project
⭐ Architectural accessibility competition
“Open Home 2023”: participation in the assessing committee
⭐ Bravo Awards 2023:
Distinction for the #SpeakUp campaign in the “SOCIETY” category
⭐ PSAPP Awards 2023:
Distinction for the audio description service of matches for the blind for Olympiacos FC.
⭐ Diversity & Inclusion Awards 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 participation in the assessing committee
⭐ Trainers as Inclusion Experts in Spotlight
⭐ Best City Awards 2022: A bronze award for the Municipality of Paleo Faliro and our collaboration entitled “Accessibility Assessment and Creation of an Accessibility Profile for the Municipality of Paleo Faliro”
⭐ Hosting of our project in the Career Guide 2022 and 2023, distributed along with the Kathimerini newspaper on the last Sunday of June.
⭐Patient Partnerships Awards 2021: Gold award for our partnership with Novartis (Category Disability Initiatives)
⭐“Support Points” by the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation and 8 other organizations: Training program in new technologies for people with visual impairments.
⭐Vodafone Foundation: support for the launch of the #SpeakUp awareness campaign.
⭐ Desmos NGO, through the “Desmos for Youth” program: funding coverage for the position of “Empowerment Programs Coordinator” for a person with disabilities.
⭐ Ministry of Culture: A capital grant for the social action “I Belong” in 2021 and “Diversit-ART” in 2023.
⭐ Region of Attica: Funding and sponsorship for 2 social concerts in Megara and Aegaleo; co-organization of the live-streaming concert “Anassa mou ki Aeras”
⭐ US Embassy: Connecting with President Biden’s Special Advisor on Disability and Inclusion, Sarah Minkara
⭐ Speeches:
- Delphi Economic Forum VIII: participation in the panel “Delivery through Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”
- TEDx Athens
- TEDxAgrinion
- TEDxIonianUniversity
- Honorary award in recognition of the NPO’s contribution about disability, conferred by the Municipality of Elliniko- Argyroupoli
- Honorary distinction to the NPO by the Hellenic Institute of Customer Service during the 16th National Customer Service Awards Ceremony, in recognition of its outstanding and multifaceted contribution to promoting inclusion and accessibility
- Honorary award to the NPO by the Hellenic Thoracic Society during the 34o Nationwide Thoracic Conference
Registrations & Licenses (documents in Greek)
- Special Register of Voluntary Non-Governmental Organizations (ID 1611) of the Ministry of Labour & Social Affairs (23/2/2022)
- National Register of Non-Profit Private Sector Bodies Providing Social Care Services (ID 1729) of the Ministry of Labour & Social Affairs (23/2/2022)
- Register of Cultural Institutions (ID 17398) of the Ministry of Culture & Sports
- General Commercial Register (146708101000)
- Trademark (Trademark Number: N248775) of the Ministry of Economy & Development for Class 35 (advertising services) and 41 (news, journalism, and training services)
- Permit for the implementation of our educational program by the Ministry of Education (Φ.2.1/ΜΓ/57752/108499/Δ7)
- General Registry of Social and Solidarity Economy Entities (Registry Number: 000255012011)
- Special Registry for Civil Society Organizations of the Ministry of Interior (18/11/2024)
- Alignment of training with the ISO 21902_2021 “Tourism & Related Services – Accessible Tourism for All – Requirements & Recommendations”
ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES
We offer a variety of educational programs implemented by specialized professionals acting in 3 main pillars:
business training and consulting in inclusion and accessibility strategies
breaking down stereotypes & promoting inclusive culture
training and services aiming at a more “humane municipality“
Me Alla Matia NPO
Elaion 25, Ilion Attica, P.O. 13123
Phone: +30 210 2627385
info@meallamatia.services