Communication masks: facilitating inclusion during the coronavirus pandemic

Última actualización: 11/02/2021

Verbal communication between people during the covid-19 pandemic has been altered by the need to use masks as a preventive measure to stop infections. At Santander, we strive to ensure that this does not constitute a barrier to the inclusion of people with a hearing impairment. With our support, Universia Foundation has therefore launched a communication mask campaign at Spanish universities.

Communication masks or masks “with a window” allow you to see a person’s mouth through a piece of transparent material. This has been widely demanded by people with hearing loss in order to promote their right to equal opportunities communication, due to the risk of exclusion as a result of the pandemic.

Communication masks at Spanish universities, for a university that makes sense

In our endeavour to encourage inclusion, regardless of the social and health circumstances in which we find ourselves, Universia Foundation, supported by Banco Santander, has launched a university campaign in Spain called “Universidad con sentido” (a university that makes sense) to deliver masks with a window to university students with hearing loss, their teachers, administrative and services staff, and other people in their academic environment.

To encourage equal opportunities at the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year, 6,500 face masks were sent to centres of learning. The second phase of this communication accessibility campaign is now beginning with the delivery of 15,000 masks to Spanish universities.

The initiative is being developed in collaboration with the Federación de Asociaciones de Implantados Cocleares de España (Spanish Federation of Associations of Cochlear Implants), and the masks are being distributed through the Universities’ Disability Services to students, their teachers and those who form part of their university environment.