GR
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 470 free educational programs in schools, training over 38.300 students and 3.300 teachers.
- More than 160 customized training & consulting programs were designed and coordinated for companies, agencies, and municipalities, training over 11.100 employers and employees in accessibility and inclusion.
- meallamatia.gr has over 170,000 unique users and dynamic SoMe, such as Facebook, whose followers exceed 27.000.
- Our #SpeakUp campaign features disabled people in short videos and has garnered over 17M views.
- We service over 500 online help desk requests annually for disabled people and their
families.
Collaborations
- Growthfund: Strategic Partnership 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, Athens (Aiolou), N. Filadelfia, N. Smyrni, Ilioupoli and Kallithea
- Central Markets and Fisheries Organization: Accessibility assessment of the Consumer Market using a focus group of PwDs
- Parnassos Ski Center: Accessibility assessment by a focus group of disabled people
- ETAD: Website assessment by a focus group of disabled people
- Otis Elevator Hellas: Inclusion Strategy and Accessibility Consulting
- Municipality of Athens: Accessible Routes and construction of an accessible website in collaboration with “This is Athens” for the touristic promotion of the municipality
- Municipality of Palaio Faliro: Accessibility assessment and profiling for the Mayors Office, the Citizens Service Center, the Children’s Library, the 1st KAPI (Center of Elderly Citizens ), and the Sports Center
- Praktiker Hellas: Accessibility consulting, training on disabled customers service, and accessible communication
- Workshop for appropriate service of disabled citizens for:
- Municipality of Egaleo: civil servants
- Municipality of Athens: social services and employees supporting PwDs during the voting process
- Municipality of Moschato-Tavros: civil servants
- Municipality of Trikala: civil servants
- Educational programs in schools of the region for the Municipalities of Katerini, Cholargos – Papagou, Karditsa, Kefalonia, Mesologi, Agrinio, etc.
- Pfizer Hellas: Accessibility consulting and training programs to raise disability awareness, accommodate inclusive hiring, and enhance the accessibility of information
- ReGeneration: Accessibility consulting since 2019 for the greatest youth employability program in Greece
- Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center:
- Showcasing of inclusive and accessible practices
- Implementation of monthly tours for the Center’s accessibility.
- iMEdD (Incubator for Media Education and Development): Collaboration for “Me Alla Matia Live”
- KEAT: Development of a strategic plan for accessible communication, organizational outreach, and dissemination of actions to the specialized audience of meallamatia.gr.
- Museum of Cycladic Art: Creation of an accessible thematic route for visitors with visual impairment
- National Library of Greece: Evaluation of the equipment functionality 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
- Arag
- Eurobank
- Toyota Hellas
- Participation in the transnational European “Beyond Inclusion Project” for the inclusion of disabled people at work
- Homo Evolution: Accessibility consulting for the marriage equality campaign “Say Yes!” and for LGBTQI+ Voice Up: Project Greece in collaboration with the European Parliament Office in Greece
- Regeneration and Progress NPO: Educational programs on islands of the barren line within the framework of the “Sports Paths” with the exclusive sponsorship of the SNF
- Association of Social Responsibility for Children and Youth – S.K.E.P.: Enhancement and evaluation of the accessibility of the website hoponinclusion.com.
- knowl: Empowerment and enhancement of disabled candidates’ employability in the 1st cycle of the MellonAbilities program, designed by MYTILINEOS
- Hellenic Police Training School: Disability Awareness Training program for probationary police officers
- Pastoral Training Institute: Training course on disability under the aegis of Archbishop Ieronymos
- Pop2see: Mentoring inclusion and digital accessibility training
- An Archaeology of Disability: Creation of the accessible version of the website
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 Hellenic Association of Asperger Syndrome
- ‘shedia‘ και ‘shediaHome‘
- KEAN
- Impact Hub
- HandsUp
- Puzzle
- Center for Combating Gender-Based Violence and Multiple Discriminations Municipality of Athens
- SKEP – Association for the Young and the Youth
Distinctions
⭐ 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 Dialogue & 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: 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 2023, 2022 distributed along with the “Kathimerini” newspaper on the last Sunday of June.
⭐“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 “Storyteller” in our organization, covered by a PwD, in the context of the “Desmos for Youth 2023” program
⭐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
⭐ Patient Partnerships Awards 2021: A gold award for our partnership with Novartis (Disability Initiatives Category)
⭐ Speeches:
- Delphi Economic Forum VIII: participation in the panel “Delivery through Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”
- 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
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“
