Mental health and rights at the International Day of Persons with Disabilities

The institutional event, organised by the Equality and Diversity Service, responds to the University's commitment to promoting an inclusive academic community that is sensitive to the multiple realities linked to disabilities.

The event, which took place on Wednesday 3 December in the conference hall of the Rectorat building, began with a speech by UAB Secretary General Esther Zapater, who stressed that "the university must be a place where everyone has a place, regardless of their abilities, and where everyone can fulfil their dreams".

She was followed by Magda Casamitjana i Aguilà, former student of the UAB and coordinator of Quality Rights in Mental Health at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and Fundació Hospitalàries. Casamitjana gave the presentation "Universities that care: the Quality Rights model in the academic community", in which she masterfully and clearly explained some of the main actions that need to be carried out to improve mental health care.

Casamitjana, who from 2018 to 2024 was at the head of the National Mental Health Pact in Catalonia, explained that this political and management tool arose from the need to advance in the transformation of the interdepartmental structure of mental health care in Catalonia. She pointed out the situation in which mental health care currently finds itself, and the path it should take. "We need to change the model; it is a necessary change of mentality and culture, and not only here, but everywhere", and added that "we must accompany, support, integrate and, above all, guarantee the rights of people". She also highlighted the need, with regard to mental health, to make the administrations much more agile, fast and understandable, for patients and their families.

Vice-Rector for Students and Employability Annabel Galán then presented the Impuls grants, which this year have been awarded to five students from the faculties of Education, Translation and Interpreting, Law, Political Sciences and Sociology, and Communication Studies. These grants, in their 17th edition, are awarded by the UAB to students with disabilities in a situation of second or third degree dependency, or who have the need for a third person to carry out basic activities of daily life, and are enrolled in their first degree in official bachelor's or master's studies at the UAB during the current academic year. The Impuls grants cover expenses related to the personal assistance and mobility of these students.

For Vice-Rector Galán, on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, “we celebrate the effort and courage of many people who, despite the difficulties, do not give up”. For her, “these students do a huge job of overcoming obstacles, and from here we want to remind them that they are not alone”. And she added that “our goal is to work so that barriers can become opportunities.”

Esther Zapater and Annabel Galán thanked the people who work at the UAB and who make the University more inclusive, respectful and fair every day, such as the technicians and staff of the Equality and Diversity Service and the inclusion managers of all UAB centres, among others.

Esther Zapater ended the event with a few words regarding the topics covered in Magda Casamitjana's previous conference: "We should not focus on the deficits or shortcomings of people who suffer from mental illnesses, but on what they can do and would like to do". For the UAB's general secretary, diversity must be welcomed as an element of enrichment: "we live in a world where we are all diverse and we will be more so every day, because we are constantly changing throughout our lives".

The institutional event then moved at 2:00 p.m. to the campus' Theatre Hall, where the audience was able to enjoy a lively performance by the new UAB Community Choir.

The full event can be viewed on the UAB's YouTube channel.