Inauguration of the Handi’media room: a room adapted for the University of Reunion
Accessibility to studies and work for people with disabilities is at the heart of the concerns of the University of La Réunion, which seeks the inclusion of all.
On the campuses, numerous adjustments have been made: widened entrances, access ramps, elevators, tactile strips, etc. The University, via the Equality Mission Handicap Students and Staff (SEMPH) services, also offers personalized support to those and those with physical, sensory or psychological disabilities, those with disabling health disorders, cognitive disorders (e.g. dyslexia) or intellectual development disorders.
Libraries are also part of the development of the university's inclusive policy. All of the establishment's libraries (3 in the north and 2 in the south) are accessible to people with reduced mobility. Service adjustments have also been put in place: increased loan duration, personalized support and training, loan of specific equipment, etc. Registration is free for all people with disabilities (including those from outside the university).
For this 2023 academic year, the University of Reunion is offering a new service to its students and staff with disabilities: the Handi’Média room. Located on the ground floor of the Droit-Lettres Library, it is accessible during library opening hours, Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 19 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Three workstations are available and equipped with computers, ergonomic chairs, three-color lamps, a height-adjustable desk and appropriate software. The place is intended to be calm, practical and ergonomic. Everything was studied, down to the choice of the work that will decorate the room: a sculpture by the deaf visual artist, Mathilde Lauret.
The Handi'média room was inaugurated on February 9 by Mr. Frédéric MIRANVILLE, President of the University of La Réunion, Mrs. Patricia DUCRET, Deputy Vice-President in charge of Gender Equality and Disability, in the presence of Mrs. Laure BEN MOUSSI, Disability Territorial Director of the Fund for the Integration of Disabled People in the Civil Service (FIPHFP) and Madame Mathilde LAURET, artist, author of the work “The Silent Rest” (read elsewhere).
Mathilde Lauret is a visual artist who uses the sounds of silence as the main medium of her artistic approach. She obtained her national higher diploma in plastic expression (DNSEP) in September 2020, at the Ecole Supérieure d’Art de La Réunion.
Born the only profoundly deaf in a Reunionese-Creole family, she moved to the south of Reunion Island around the age of six, due to health concerns. She inherits many cultures, worlds and cross-breedings from Reunion: she questions her multiple identity during a scientific path before entering Art. Her main approach is part of sound and visual installations, whether they contain videos, sculptures, sound, text, drawing, plants... today she questions labels and words imposed by a language, according to her, hearing. She continues to explore sound as an (in)audible, living and solid material in the form of poetic vibrations, since we never listen only with our ears. In her parallel life, she raises awareness around disability for cultural accessibility and in various other areas.