About Us

Our vision is to eliminate the underrepresentation of People with Disability in the public sphere. 

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

• Since September 2017, we have implemented around 420 free educational programs in schools, training over 33.700 students and 3.000 teachers.
• In the last two years, more than 135 customized training & consulting programs were designed and coordinated for companies, agencies, and municipalities, training over 10.000 employers and employees in accessibility and inclusion.
• meallamatia.gr has over 170,000 unique users and dynamic SoMe, such as Facebook, whose followers exceed 25.000.
• Our #SpeakUp campaign features disabled people in short videos and has garnered over 10 million views.
• We service over 500 online help desk requests annually for disabled people and their
  families.

Collaborations

• Strategic Partnership with Growthfund since 2021 for the development of an inclusive strategy for the subsidiaries of the company:
  • training on inclusive communication for the subsidiaries
  • Athens Urban Transport Organization: Passenger survey, website accessibility assessment, accessibility assessment of “Kallithea” and “Monastiraki” stations, staff training, implementation of tactile pavings for the blind at the “Monastiraki” station, etc.
  • EYDAP: Accessibility consulting for the design of the Accessible Report 2021
  • Hellenic Post: Accessibility assessment and profiling for the post office of Nafplio
  • Central Markets and Fisheries Organization: Accessibility assessment of the Consumer Market using a focus group of PwDs 
• Inclusion Strategy and Accessibility Consulting for Otis Elevator Hellas
• Accessible Routes and construction of an accessible website in collaboration with “This is Athens” for the touristic promotion of the Municipality of Athens
• Accessibility assessment and 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 disabled citizens for:
  • civil servants of the Municipality of Egaleo
  • social services and employees of the Municipality of Athens supporting PwDs during the voting
  • civil servants of the Municipality of Moschato-Tavros
  • civil servants of the Municipality of Trikala
• Accessibility consulting and training programs for Pfizer Hellas to raise disability awareness, accommodate inclusive hiring, and enhance the accessibility of information.
• 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
• Accessibility consulting for ReGeneration, the greatest 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:
  • Accenture 
  • Imerys Minerals Industry
  • WFW Law Firm
  • Imperial Brands Hellas
  • Deloitte
  • Piraeus Bank
  • Marks & Spencer
• 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
• Empowerment and enhancement of disabled candidates’ employability in the 1st cycle of the MellonAbilities program, designed by MYTILINEOS, in collaboration with the Social Enterprise knowl.
• Disability Awareness Training program at the Hellenic Police Training School for probationary police officers

Cooperation Agreements 

• With the Hellenic Hoteliers Federation on accessible tourism issues 
• With Alter Ego Facilities to promote the professional integration of people with disability
• With inclusiveGreece on accessible tourism issues
• With the Greek Association for Asperger’s Syndrome 

Distinctions

🌟 “Points of Support” program of the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, co-funded by eight more organizations: Training on new technologies for people with visual impairments
🌟 Vodafone Foundation: financial support for the launch of our Disability Awareness campaign #SpeakUp
🌟 Desmos Non-Profit Foundation: funding for the position of “Coordinator of Empowerment Programs” in our organization, covered by a PwD, in the context of the “Desmos for Youth” program
🌟 Ministry of Culture and Sports: A capital grant for the social action “I Belong”
🌟 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
🌟 Patient Partnerships Awards 2021: A gold award for our partnership with Novartis (Disability Initiatives Category)
🌟 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”
🌟 Marketing Promotional Awards 2023: A gold award for our cooperation with Praktiker Hellas in the “Open Home” project
🌟 Delphi Economic Forum VIII: participation in the panel “Delivery through Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”
🌟 Diversity & Inclusion Awards 2022, 2023: participation in the panel
🌟 Architectural accessibility competition “Open Home”: participation in the panel
🌟 Hosting of our project in the Career Guide 2023, distributed along with the “Kathimerini” newspaper on the last Sunday of June.
🌟 TedTalks:

• TEDx Athens
• TEDxAgrinion
• TEDxIonianUniversity

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 )
• Alignment of training with the ISO 21902_2021 “Tourism & Related Services – Accessible Tourism for All – Requirements & Recommendations