Accessibility, mental health and sustainability are some of the major challenges we face today

Disability and its obstacles

Aparicio has recounted precisely in his interventions the barriers that people with disabilities face in their daily lives, and he did it himself, because when he was only 16 years old, he had an accident that left her in a wheelchair. Since that time he remembers that “everything was architectural barriers“,” From my house, which I had to reach by climbing six steps, to go to the institute, where they had to build a ramp. In addition, there were social barriers. I couldn’t go to bars and restaurants with my group of friends, and I didn’t go on an end-of-year trip […] I decided to study law because it was the only college with a slope […] The support of the family and the goodwill of the people was very important.” He has also expressed “great progress”: “I live independently, that is, I decide where I live and with whom I live, my home is accessible, and new technologies make everything easier for you.” . But I went out into the street and still found barriers: stands full of people you couldn’t pass through, bicycles and scooters, buses with ramps that broke down … on basic things like going to the gynecologist, Suspender height you can’t reach. In addition, there are also social barriers, it is believed that we cannot be mothers or that we do not have sexual desire.

Aparicio attributed the slow progress to several factors: “Blame is distributed. In Spain and Europe we have one of the most complete legislative frameworks regarding disability and accessibility, but it is not adhered to in many cases. […] On the one hand, Diversity is not taken into account and persons with disabilities do not participate in architectural design plans, and on the other hand, Funding shortageWhich makes the laws a dead letter on paper ». To all this add the terminology, “too long”, the reason why neither she nor the rest of the people in wheelchairs can withdraw money on their own from an ATM.

The accessibility person at Renfe saw the solution as, by and large, going through “a Inclusive education, that schools are accessible and not only in the physical sense »:« If we educate ourselves together from a young age, we will know everyone’s needs and we will not have prejudices. If children grow up knowing diversity, it will be easier, when they grow up, to have no problems in this regard.”

Mental health is a priority

Changing the third, but also focusing on the need, little by little, to make this world better, the experts also talked about the importance of paying attention to mental health. Specifically, Restrepo, who considers that “the most important thing of all are human beings, human beings,” has released disturbing information in this regard: “Mental health problems are on the rise; In 2021, there were 4,000 suicides, up 7% from 2020. Don’t lose sight of people. You need to know where this problem comes from.

The expert confirms that there is a social stigma around mental health, and that going to a psychologist is a taboo: «From the Connecta Foundation, we have fought hard to eradicate it, and part of our work is Educating companies to hire people with mental disabilities or with a mental health problem. We can run into these types of problems at any time. When a person suffers from depression, the doctor discharges him, but there are experts who believe that it is not always good, that it is better to continue being active, it is a complex problem, “often, the product of ignorance”:There are cases of discrimination in companies Because they believe that this person will not recover.

For the future, Restrepo asserts that «The new generations are more socially responsibleBut, paradoxically, Also very weak In mental health I don’t know if it’s the parents’ fault, but they have very low resilience, in the face of any problem being settled, they fall. We have created a world of looks more than looks, in social networks we have created a world where everyone is handsome, happy, happy and unreal.

Third stop: sustainability

For his part, Saez emphasized that, from Heineken, they took responsibility Sustainably growA concern for people and a commitment to the planet. Transparency is very important, it is a way of understanding work and life […] It is a road we started a long time ago and it will never end. Moreover, we cannot go alone. Alliances and collaboration between the public and private sectors are essential». It has been stated that the company is trying to make its product more natural, and that it is also trying to waste as little water as possible, taking into account the critical situation of the reservoirs and the arrival of drought; He also listed some of the actions that are being taken to enhance other aspects of sustainability: «Our factories put zero waste into landfills [práctica que, por ejemplo, ya se lleva a cabo en Sevilla y en Jaén]. Part of the products, such as yeast, are used in other industries for animal feed and as fertilizers; Another part, like the alcohol, is reused as vinegar; The rest, glass, cardboard, paper … we process in factories into revalued resources, products, waste.

Saez understood it It is difficult to achieve the goals of the “2030 Agenda” within the specified deadline If the pace of work didn’t pick up, but he was optimistic: “We have to Work locally What are we responsible for. Therefore, we will set ourselves increasingly ambitious goals; The key is in every company, institution, government to speed up.”

2030 Agenda

Specifically, to talk about the “Agenda 2030”, Rodriguez was present, who finds that when it comes to complying with the principles contained in the document, there is a very large gap between companies: «There are sectors that are more innovative, such as telecommunications, and others that are less, such as Textiles or leisure and sports […] lacks a little innovative character, we must strengthen the ability to work with different alliances, do things differently, Making possible what has not yet been doneIt is a new concept of ambition ».

However, the agenda faces obstacles such as, as Exposito mentioned, a large proportion of the population continues to deny climate change. Rodriguez explains that this type of phenomenon occurs because “There is an ideology, a politicization of everything. It doesn’t make sense, since It’s a humanitarian issue». The second problem is that although in their view “there is greater awareness of what is green”, some citizens do not realize this The agenda also covers other aspects of sustainability, such as society and the economy. He has spoken of “there are people who recycle at home, but in the workplace they change their chips, so it’s important that people don’t leave their personal conscience behind when they walk into the door of work.”

Therefore, all the speakers agreed that a long way has already been done in the area of ​​sustainability, but that much more needs to be done.