Name Surname: Silvia Mateos Gallego

Country: Spain

City: Zaragoza

Nationality: Spanish

Background: Vocational Training

Sector: Service

Position: Counselor and communicative mediator, since 2017 President of the Association of Deaf People of Zaragoza and Aragon

I was born as a hearing child but due to an illness when I was 18 months old, I became deaf. My parents tried to introduce me to an ordinary childhood education, but we were in a rural area and it did not work. So at the age of 5 years old, I went to another school, a special education school for deaf children, this time in the city of Zaragoza. In this school I studied until I was 17 years old, in an internal regime following the oral system.

When I left that school I decided to continue studying a Vocational Training Course in an integration centre. In that training centre there was not training adaptation for my disability situation. That reality meant that I had to make a double effort to obtain the degree.

When I got the degree, I focused on finding a job in Zaragoza because I did not want to return to my village. During this time, I became a member of ASZA (Association of Deaf People of Zaragoza and Aragon). To be a member meant being able to participate in activities, contacting other deaf people and that the Association could help me to find a job. And so it was, shortly ASZA found me a job in a handling company. I worked for 15 years in that handling company. During that time, I married a deaf person and I had two children, one of them is deaf and the other is a listener.

After those fifteen years, the handling company closed so I decided to join a training course to be part of ASZA's employment department because the Association was creating new departments. That training course was a great experience. The idea of working within that department seemed very attractive to me. In addition to the fact that in recent years the adaptations for deaf people in the field of training had advanced a lot. I finished the training course and after the selection process, I was selected as a counsellor and communicative mediator in the employment department of ASZA

.

I started working at ASZA in May 2002. I have to admit that for me, one of my main motivations in this new job has been the empathy I feel towards other deaf people, to know their limitations. I also wanted to face old challenges from the past and help overcome those barriers to other ASZA users.

A very positive opportunity offered to deaf people is the demolition of communication barriers. We, the deaf people, can assimilate other roles and aptitudes that we previously thought we could not have.

About the threats that I encounter on a daily basis, I guess that there is a lack of awareness for the rest of people and companies about what to suppose to be a deaf person.

As for the competences that I think I have, I like to team when I work; coordinate and motivate the people with whom I relate when working. For me it is important to develop myself through work. In addition to that, I think it is fundamental to have goals and reach the goals that I set.

If I have to talk about my qualities, I can say that I am a modest and conservative person; I like to trust people and enjoy good conversations. I consider myself a flexible person who adapts easily to change; I am practical in life and at work, as well as methodical and dogmatic.

Most of the problems I had to deal with have been due to the hearing disability that I have, but thanks to the services that ASZA offered me, I have been able to solve them independently.

The motivation that I have to work in ASZA is directly related to the integration I perceive in my work.

As for the competences that I think I have, I like to team when I work; coordinate and motivate the people with whom I relate when working. For me it is important to develop myself through work. In addition to that, I think it is fundamental to have goals and reach the goals that I set.

If I have to talk about my qualities, I can say that I am a modest and conservative person; I like to trust people and enjoy good conversations. I consider myself a flexible person who adapts easily to change; I am practical in life and at work, as well as methodical and dogmatic.

The only advice I would give to a woman with a disability would be, to look for another woman with the same disability. To make that woman her reference, since understanding, identity and empathy will be perfect; no one can understand her better. When I started working at ASZA, I had a managing director who was a model as deaf and charismatic person. He was a leader in the entity who helped and empowered deaf people. I learned a lot from him and without a doubt he was a reference for me, on the other hand the colleagues that form my team have also supposed a work model for me.

Another important suggestion for any woman with a disability is to invest time in training and preparation. Never lose your motivation!

On inclusive entrepreneurship, I think it is very necessary because people with disabilities must have the same equality of opportunities as a person without disabilities. Along the same lines, I believe that many awareness campaigns are lacking for society in general. It is necessary to overcome communication barriers and ignorance of the disability and, of course, improve the accessibility.