Awareness is very important. Today, the beneficiaries of this award are making people aware of this work and of the fact that these people make a very important contribution to society. That's part of the promotional effort. It takes stock of their social engagement and their economic inclusion.
As for me, I represent intersectionality: I'm a woman, I'm an immigrant, and I have a visual impairment. I often get around without a white cane, but when I use it, my world changes completely. People no longer look at me the same way. I am no longer Selma, the person everyone knows, perhaps even as a colleague. All people see is the white cane. It's as if they were all suddenly cut off. What I want to do is make them aware. I want to tell them that the white cane is only one aspect of me, that I am much more than this white cane, that I am a fully developed individual, that I have a lot to offer, and also that I have a lot to learn about them.
We try to raise people's awareness every day. We do this as part of our work, and in workshops. It's important to ask us in. I don't know whether it's possible to occasionally have a meeting with someone who is disabled. Perhaps you have employees who have a disability. Placing these people in the forefront also helps to identify models that might lead to deciding that it's possible for us to get beyond the disability fact. By seeing a person right in front of them, even employers can determine that it's possible. It's not necessary for these people to have done anything extraordinary, whether in sports are elsewhere. They could just be ordinary people from the general population.