Odalis Morales Velásquez es una indígena zenú, de Córdoba, convencida de que la discapacidad es mental y no física. Nació sin brazos y elabora artículos en caña flecha con sus pies para sostener a su familia.
Cuando Odalis Morales Velásquez tenía 6 años recibió las primeras lecciones de su mamá y su abuela sobre el tejido en caña flecha: aprendió a hacer ribetes (bordes reforzados) para diversos artículos. Han pasado cerca de 40 años y ella ya es una experta que elabora sombreros vueltiaos, pulseras, bolsos, y mucho más.
A simple vista, su historia no parece novedosa pues en la cultura zenú del departamento de Córdoba es normal la transmisión de los saberes tradicionales de una generación a otra; solo que Odalis nació sin brazos y teje con los dedos de los pies.
Entrelaza y cruza fibras de caña flecha de distinto grosor con sus pies. Entre los dedos gordo y segundo pasa las hebras con un cuidado y una paciencia que impresiona y, poco a poco, evitando cortarse, le va dando forma al artículo que le hayan pedido.
Con la venta de esos productos y una fuerza interior que sobrepasa todo obstáculo, ha mantenido a su mamá y sacado adelante a sus dos hijos, hoy de 20 y 8 años.
Tuvo que irse hace 25 años del resguardo zenú ubicado en San Andrés de Sotavento, Córdoba, cuando un grupo de paramilitares, que disputaba el terreno con un grupo guerrillero, le quitó la vida a su padre, a su hermano mayor y les arrebató a ella y a su mamá la finca en la que vivían. “Quedamos en la calle”, cuenta.
Hace 11 años vive en Bogotá y se declara tranquila y feliz. Dice tener solo un sueño: “tener una vivienda digna, que el Estado me ayude con eso”.
Expuso y vendió sus productos en un stand de la Feria de Emprendimiento organizada por la Unidad para las Víctimas y la empresa privada Terpel en Bogotá, en desarrollo de una estrategia que se basa en alianzas público privadas, en beneficio de las víctimas del conflicto armado.
Sentada en una silla, ubica ambos pies sobre la mesa en la que organizó manillas, collares, aretes, anillos, billeteras… Con esa posición de trabajo, empieza a tejer un cinturón. “Me gano el pan de cada día con mis pies”, manifiesta sonriente.
Hoy, Odalis es una microempresaria que ha recibido pedidos hasta de cuatro millones de pesos y para cumplir esos compromisos, les da empleo a otros familiares. “Cuando era niña pensé que esto sería pasajero, jamás pensé que llegaría a grandes exposiciones”, afirma. Con sus productos, ha representado en diferentes exposiciones y ferias a la Unidad para las Víctimas.
Mientras se deja tomar fotos y responde preguntas, saluda a otras personas levantando un poco la pierna y moviendo de lado a lado el pie derecho varias veces; pocos minutos después hace una seña con el mismo miembro inferior para que la esperen un momento.
Lo suyo es tejer, pero no solo productos en caña flecha, en realidad ha tejido toda su vida con los dedos de sus pies. Por eso se lanza a decir, antes de atender a un nuevo cliente en la feria: “Y un mensaje para la juventud: que la discapacidad es mental, más no física”.
(Fin/DRR/LMY)
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Carrera 85D No. 46A – 65
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Unit for Victims
compliance status
We strongly believe that the Internet should be available and accessible to all, and we are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To accomplish this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at level AA. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities. Adhering to those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: people who are blind, people with motor disabilities, visually impaired, cognitively disabled, and more.
This website uses various technologies aimed at making it as accessible as possible at all times. We use an accessibility interface that allows people with specific disabilities to adjust the user interface (user interface) of the website and design it according to their personal needs.
In addition, the website uses an AI-based application that runs in the background and constantly optimizes its accessibility level. This application repairs the HTML of the website, adapts its functionality and behavior for screen readers used by blind users and for keyboard functions used by people with motor disabilities.
If you have found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we would be happy to hear from you. You can communicate with the operators of the website using the following email servicioalciudadano@unidadvictimas.gov.co
Screen reader and keyboard navigation
Our website implements the ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attribute technique, along with several different behavior changes, to ensure that blind users who visit with screen readers can read, understand, and enjoy the features of the website. As soon as a user with a screen reader enters your site, they are immediately prompted to enter the screen reader profile so they can effectively navigate and operate your site. Here's how our website covers some of the most important screen reader requirements, along with console screenshots of code examples:
Screen Reader Optimization: We run a background process that learns website components from top to bottom, to ensure continued compliance even when the website is updated. In this process, we provide screen readers with meaningful data using the ARIA attribute set. For example, we provide accurate form tags; actionable icon descriptions (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guide for form inputs; roles of elements such as buttons, menus, modal dialogs (popups), and others. In addition, the background process scans all images on the website and provides an accurate and meaningful description based on Image Object Recognition as an ALT (alternative text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology. To activate screen reader settings at any time, users just need to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen reader users also receive automated prompts to activate screen reader mode as soon as they enter the website.
These settings are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the HTML of the website and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website work with the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdown menus with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, activate buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio items and checkboxes using the arrow keys and complete them with the space bar or the Enter key. In addition, keyboard users will find quick navigation and content skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first site elements while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving keyboard focus to them as soon as they appear, and not allowing focus to drift away from it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as "M" (menus), "H" (headers), "F" (forms), "B" (buttons), and "G" (graphics) to jump to specific items.
Disability profiles accepted on our website
Epilepsy Safe Mode: This profile allows people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures resulting from flashing or flickering animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode: This mode adjusts the website for the comfort of visually impaired users such as impaired vision, tunnel vision, cataracts, glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Impairment Mode – This mode provides different support options to help users with cognitive impairments such as dyslexia, autism, AVC, and others to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode – This mode helps users with ADHD and neurodevelopmental disorders to read, navigate, and focus on the main elements of the website more easily, while significantly reducing distractions.
Blind Mode – This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor Disability): This profile allows people with motor disabilities to operate the website using the Tab, Shift+Tab, and Enter keys on the keyboard. Users can also use shortcuts such as "M" (menus), "H" (headers), "F" (forms), "B" (buttons), and "G" (graphics) to jump to specific items.
Additional UI, layout, and readability tweaks
Font Settings: Users can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
Color Settings: Users can select various color contrast profiles, such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap title, text, and background color combinations, with more than 7 different color options.
Animations: Epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Interface-driven animations include videos, GIFs, and flashing CSS transitions.
Content Highlighting – Users can choose to emphasize important elements like links and titles. They can also choose to highlight only focused or suspended items.
Audio Mute: Users with hearing aids may experience headaches or other issues due to autoplay of audio. This option allows users to mute the entire website instantly.
Cognitive disorders: We use a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
Additional features: We provide users with the option to change the color and size of the cursor, use a print mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other features.
Browser and assistive technology support
Our goal is to support the widest possible range of browsers and assistive technologies, so our users can choose the tools that work best for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all the major systems that comprise more than 95 % of the user market share, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (readers). screen), for both Windows and MAC users.
Notes, comments and feedback
Despite our best efforts to allow anyone to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of being made accessible, or lack an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we're continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating, and improving its features and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this to achieve the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advances. For assistance, please contact servicioalciudadano@unidadvictimas.gov.co