GRNPO “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, and that is how we aspire to make the world see diversity.
Our vision is to eliminate the underrepresentation of the disabled in the public sphere.
Social Actions
- Services of social welfare, counseling support, social and professional integration of vulnerable group
- Implementation of school, corporate, cultural, and municipal programs aimed at familiarization with disability, inclusion, and accessibility
Our Numbers
- meallamatia.gr has over 170,000 unique users and dynamic SoMe, such as Facebook where followers exceed 24,500.
- Our #SpeakUp campaign features disabled people in short videos and has garnered over 10 million views.
- Since September 2017, around 430 free educational programs have been implemented in schools, with over 33,500 students and 3,100 teachers.
- In the last 2 years, more than 125 customized training & consulting programs were designed and coordinated for companies, agencies, and municipalities, training over 9,500 employers and employees in accessibility and inclusion.
Collaborations
- Development of an Inclusive strategy and action plan in cooperation with the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations and the Athens Urban Transport Organization
- Accessible Routes and construction of an accessible website in collaboration with “This is Athens” for the touristic promotion of Athens’ Municipality
- Accessibility profiling for the Municipality of Palaio Faliro
- Accessibility consulting, training on disabled customers service, and accessible communication for Praktiker Hellas
- Workshop for appropriate service of people with disability, for civil servants of the Municipality of Egaleo
- Workshop for disability awareness addressed to social workers of the Municipality of Athens
- Accessibility consulting and training programs for Pfizer Hellas aiming to raise disability awareness, accommodate inclusive hiring, and enhance the accessibility of information.
- Implementation of accessibility research for the disabled in the “Consumer’s Market” in collaboration with the Central Markets and Fisheries Organization
- Educational programs on islands of the barren line within the framework of the “Sports Paths”, organized by Regeneration and Progress CNPC, with the exclusive sponsorship of the SNF
- Educational program for raising awareness of disability in schools with the permission of the Ministry of Education
- Memorandum of cooperation with the Hellenic Hoteliers Federation on accessible tourism issues
- Memorandum of cooperation with inclusiveGreece on accessible tourism issues
- Accessibility consulting for ReGeneration, the biggest youth employability program in Greece, since 2019
- Promotion of inclusive and accessible paradigms at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center
- Collaboration with iMEdD (Incubator for Media Education and Development) for our shows “Me Alla Matia Live”
- Creation of an accessible thematic route at the Museum of Cycladic Art for visitors with visual impairments
- Training course on disability for the Pastoral Training Institute, under the aegis of Archbishop Ieronymos
- Evaluation of the equipment functionality of the National Library of Greece for disabled visitors and suggestions for improving the workstations located in the SNFCC.
- Disability Awareness Training Program for IT & Business Development Company Accenture
- Disability Awareness Training Program for the Imerys Minerals Industry
- Disability Awareness Training Program for WFW Law Firm
- Disability Awareness Training Program for Delloitte Hellas
- Collaboration with the Greek street paper “shedia” and “shedia home” to promote accessibility and inclusion
- Participation in the transnational European “Beyond Inclusion Project” for the inclusion of disabled people at work
- Accessibility consulting for the marriage equality campaign “Say Yes!” and for LGBTQI+ Voice Up: Project Greece, implemented by Homo Evolution, in collaboration with the European Parliament Office in Greece
- Cooperation agreement with Alter Ego Facilities to promote the professional integration of people with disability
- Empowerment and enhancement of disabled candidates’ employability in the 1st cycle of the MellonAbilities program, designed by MYTILINEOS, in collaboration with the Social Enterprise know.
- Disability Awareness Training program at the Hellenic Police Training School for probationary police officers
Distinctions
- Ministry of Culture and Sports: A capital grant for the social action “I Belong”
- “Points of Support” program of the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, co-funded by 8 more organizations: Training on new technologies for people with visual impairments
- Vodafone Foundation: financial support for the launch of our Disability Awareness campaign #SpeakUp
- Region of Attica: Funding and sponsorship for 2 social concerts in Megara and Aegaleo
- Patient Partnerships Awards 2021: Gold award for our partnership with Novartis (Disability Initiatives Category)
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 (prot. Φ.2.1/ΜΓ/57752/108499/Δ7 )
