On the occasion of the International Day of People with Disabilities on 3 December, Intesa Sanpaolo launches new initiatives and intensifies the many already underway. Eighty disability managers who work every day to facilitate colleagues, full accessibility of ATMs, branches and websites, specific initiatives in the Bank’s museums and support for many associations and initiatives: Intesa Sanpaolo’s commitment is recognized with the inclusion of the Group in the main international rankings relating to diversity, such as the FTSE Diversity and Inclusion Index – Top 100 and is the first bank in the world among the 100 most inclusive and attentive workplaces to diversity.
The “International Day of Persons with Disabilities” is celebrated on 3 December each year. The event born in 1981 – International Year of Disabled People – in 1993 by agreement between the European Commission and the United Nations was also decreed European Day of People with Disabilities and included in the European Agenda on the Rights of People with Disabilities 2021-2030. This is an important signal aimed at calling for a common reflection and, above all, a common commitment towards a topic which today involves 15% of the world population and which will increasingly tend to expand in relation to the aging of society.
The focus of the day for Intesa is to raise awareness of all the people who work in the Bank towards the culture of inclusion and the importance of the topic. Attention to people, to their well-being, to the specificities of each one is one of the aspects that characterizes Intesa Sanpaolo. Sport, art and cinema are at the center of initiatives to promote awareness and inclusion among colleagues with initiatives that lead people without disabilities to identify with the situation of people with disabilities. The same common thread also characterizes the initiatives of Galleries of Italy of the Bank, with tours in the museums of Milan and Naples to experience another way of “seeing” and learning about works of art by relying on the senses of hearing, touch and smell or the accessibility route for blind people in the museums of Turin and Vicenza. Added to this are initiatives such as those launched by Turin Savings Museum in collaboration with various associations, including the Italian Union of the Blind and the National Board of the Deaf to promote accessibility, including the translation of multimedia devices into LIS – Italian Sign Language.
For the Group’s staff, the Mutual Aid Society dedicated to all employees and their family members, including cohabitants, with the precise aim of offering concrete help in case of need, as for the theme of “After Us”, while the Intesa Sanpaolo Ente Filantropico Foundation awards scholarships to thesis of master’s degree on the topic of disability.
The Charitable Fund as President of the Bank, over the years he has supported numerous projects in favor of people with disabilities and has included attention to the rights of people with disabilities in the 2023-2024 Guidelines within the broader focus on the fight against violence against discrimination .
The structure too “Intesa Sanpaolo for Social Affairs” supports numerous initiatives and has launched social co-planning actions with Third Sector bodies to support people with disabilities. Among the main interventions: the partnership with Dynamo Camp, active since 2019, with the aim of strengthening the reception capacity of children and young people with disabilities and serious pathologies and their families at the Camp and the Disability Friendly Community Project (CAD) launched in 2021 by the three Brescia non-profit organizations (ASM Foundation, Villa Paradiso Foundation and Congrega della Carità Apostolica di Brescia) together with the scientific society SIDIN (Italian Society for Neurodevelopmental Disorders) to define the characteristics that make an area welcoming to people with disabilities and to encourage the growth of inclusive communities. In the field of education and employability, the Bank promotes and implements programs and projects to support inclusive education, orientation and scholastic inclusion of young people with physical and intellectual disabilities in order to create social networks and structural alliances with important Third Party actors Sector.
The Bank also promotes professional orientation and training projects for young people with physical and intellectual disabilities in order to encourage the acquisition of skills useful for making their way in the world of work.
Intesa Sanpaolo also reserves various initiatives for its employees during the day of Tuesday 3 December: the morning will open with the possibility of following an online session of Adaptive Training, a proposal of high intensity inclusive physical activity. With one practical lesson on how to adapt the proposed exercises in situations of deprivation of the lower or upper limbs or in a wheelchair. The activity is suitable both for those who experience a temporary disability firsthand, for example in the event of an injury, or a permanent one, and for those who, through identification, want to discover how it is possible to train effectively with a disability. During the lunch break, an online appointment, of the art and inclusion format, to reread the concept of disability through the languages and tools of art. The meeting was organized in collaboration with the Bank’s Disability Management and with the contribution of colleagues. In the afternoon, in Milan in headquarters in via Melchiorre Gioia 22as part of the Cineforum initiative, will come screened the film Championsa sports story that involves boys and girls with disabilities and touches on themes that make us reflect through the eyes of the protagonist. At the end, a moment of discussion will see the special participation of Vivi Down – Italian Association for scientific research and for the protection of people with Down syndrome, active in the Milan area.
Also the Galleries of Italythe Intesa Sanpaolo museum, have organized special lunch break events dedicated to colleagues, some also open to companions or external visitors. Then there is Blind date (Milan office) And The essential is invisible to the eye (Naples headquarters), routes to experience another way of “seeing” and learning about works of art by relying on the senses of hearing, touch and smell. An experience that surprises those who have always been used to relying on sight, but also an opportunity to discover a new way of perception and communication. The Milan activity will be open to any accompanying persons. Beyond Sight. Tools accessible at the Gallerie d’Italia – Turin initiative dedicated to the accessibility of the spaces and services of the Turin museum, which aim to make art accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities. The itinerary, designed to activate the senses, will allow you to discover the rooms of the Piano Nobile and the Publifoto Intesa Sanpaolo Archive with a new reading perspective, exploring the tools made available through touch. Finally the appointment An all-round sculpture. The art of Fancesco Bertos (Vicenza location), the story of the extraordinary artistic adventure of the sculptor Francesco Bertos, with particular attention to accessibility and inclusion. The route will also be open to external visitors.
Photo © Ansa
