What if accessibility were not a favor society does, but the starting point that should never have been missing? That is the question we came back with from Granada, after two days at the 5th National Asprogrades "Paso a Paso" Congress and the 1st National Fundación Hermanas Hospitalarias Congress, held at the School of Civil Engineering of the University of Granada.
They were two dense days, the kind where you leave with more questions than answers and the feeling of having been in the right place.
A congress that puts the focus where it belongs: on people
The thread running through everything was clear from the start: how to move toward a society where people with intellectual, functional, or psychosocial disabilities can live with autonomy and independence, integrated into the community where they want, and deserve, to be.
The panels covered almost everything that needs covering: housing and community, transforming care and support models, employment and independent living, training for autonomy, reform of civil and procedural law, innovation in deinstitutionalization. And also emerging technologies for accessibility and participation, which is where we got to contribute with our workshop on MouthX.
The idea that stayed with us
Let's go back to the question from the start, because this is where it comes from. Over those two days, one reflection shifted how we look at inclusion. Accessibility should not be an exceptional value, a gesture of generosity from society toward those who have a disability. Every person is born included. What we have to build, as a community, is an environment equally accessible to every situation in life. There are no exceptions to manage; there is a shared life that always should have been this way.
It might sound like a subtle distinction, but it matters a great deal. When accessibility is treated as a concession, it becomes something that can be withdrawn, minimized, or postponed when budgets get tight. When it is understood as a starting point, as a right, the conversation is something else entirely.
The role of technology, and ours at Aurax
We brought MouthX to Granada: a hands-free intraoral device that lets people control a phone, computer, or tablet through movements of the tongue, jaw, and head. It is designed with people with significant motor limitations in the upper limbs in mind.
But what we heard at the congress has to do with something beyond the technical function. MouthX makes it possible to send a message without depending on someone else, to access the digital world on your own terms, to recover a piece of privacy that is often taken for lost. And that changes how a person feels within their community too: the difference between watching and taking part.
We say this fully aware that we are one grain of sand in a much larger ecosystem. Institutions, organizations, professionals, families, and people with functional diversity themselves have been pushing in this direction for years, long before we arrived.
However, one of the things that gave us the most hope was the sheer number of projects already underway that genuinely contribute to this community living. Institutions are being challenged to transform rigid, closed models, the ones that have historically stripped people with functional diversity of their independence, into more open structures oriented toward autonomy.
It is not a fast process, and nobody in Granada pretended it was. But the direction is right, and events like this exist for exactly that: to share what works, learn from those who have been at it for years, and renew the commitment to keep going. We left with energy and a reinforced conviction that accessible technology is not a niche. It is a responsibility, and a real opportunity for impact.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is deinstitutionalization?
It is the process of transforming closed care models (residences and institutional centers) into structures that let people with disabilities live autonomously and integrated into the community, with whatever support they need.
What is MouthX?
MouthX is a wireless intraoral device that converts tongue and jaw movements into digital commands, allowing hands-free control of a phone, computer, or tablet. It is personalized from a dental scan.
What was the Asprogrades "Paso a Paso" Congress?
A national congress held in Granada on June 17 and 18, 2026, alongside the 1st National Fundación Hermanas Hospitalarias Congress, focused on deinstitutionalization, community living, and the autonomy of people with disabilities.
