Ignacio Aizpún, Director of ATAM. “Facing disability with specialized support changes the situation”

1.- What are the specialized services that ATAM offers to society?

ATAM is configured as a private system of social protection in situations of disability, at the family level, in the field of labor relations of a company.

In short, when the employee of a company that has signed a collaboration agreement with ATAM faces a problem of sudden disability, by himself or any of the members of his family unit, ATAM helps him with its clinical diagnosis services, multifactorial assessment of the disability, information and expert advice; In short, we guide families to understand how to face the fact of disability, how to manage the social resources available in their environment and how to access the available aid. In many cases, we also provide financial aid that complements public aid.

We guide families to understand how to face the fact of disability

We also carry out prevention campaigns, for employees and their families, on emerging pathologies caused by our current lifestyle, such as neurodegenerative diseases, addiction to the use of electronic devices, developmental disorders, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, etc.

2. In 2016, ATAM and Why would you encourage other entities to strengthen ties with ATAM?

Since then, ATAM technicians and Fraternidad-Muprespa technicians have been exchanging information, knowledge and good practices on matters that have to do with addressing health for employees of any company. Experts from We learn from every interaction with the experts at Fraternidad-Muprespa. Every meeting with them is a true luxury.

As for collaborating with ATAM, the entity that is encouraged to cooperate with us will find an entity that questions all a priori, that works from a deep reflection on the impact that the current lifestyle has on people's health, focused on science and technology as vectors of change and strongly committed to a humanistic future. I think that whoever shares these values ​​will have an interesting ally in us. 

We learn from every interaction with the Fraternidad-Muprespa experts. Every meeting with them is a true luxury.

3.- Why is it important to be a member of ATAM and how many do you currently have?

ATAM has more than 43,000 associated families belonging to forty companies. The employees of these companies have help in situations of disability that is unparalleled. 
When a child is born within a family with a degenerative disease or a member of the family unit suffers a disability resulting from a severe episode, the worker's productivity drops by less than half. The affected person enters a loop that can be extremely hard. The psychological, emotional and economic problems are added to the physical problem.But above all, the employee needs to carry out express learning about the pathology in question, about the functioning of social services and about the most appropriate way to support the affected family member. 
Facing this situation with the specialized support of an expert and trusted organization radically changes the situation. A mechanism like ATAM can represent the best social benefit we can imagine for a company's employees.

4.- What differences are there between the priority needs that existed in 1973, when ATAM was born, and those of now?

The new profiles that we serve today are very different. Fifty years ago, the main cases that fed our census of beneficiaries were profiles with chromosomal disorders, disabilities of congenital origin or disabilities caused by accidents. Ultimately, we saw disability as something binary. On the one hand, there were those who had been unlucky; On the other hand, there were the rest of us, who saw disability as something foreign to us, something that happened to others.

Today we face very different realities. Most of the new profiles are complex clinical cases with three or more disabilities; They are conditions whose pathologies are caused by the changes we have introduced in our lifestyle and environmental factors. The new way of living is particularly affecting mental functioning and the internal regulation of the body. Disability is no longer something that happens to others. Now we are all exposed to developing some type of disability. 

5.- Futuro Singular is the event that serves as a meeting and debate point for the scientific community on disability and health care and of which a special edition is being held on the occasion of the 50th anniversary. What new features are you going to present at this year's event and what is its importance? 

Futuro Singular is a space for reflection on the profound disruption represented by the current technological revolution and its impact on human beings. On this occasion, we will have top international experts in the fields of life sciences, complexity sciences, mental health and digital technology. We will address the importance of science and technology as vectors of change in social organizations and we will expose the digital transformation process experienced by a social organization like ATAM, based on a deep anthropological reflection on the role that a social entity can play in a world transformed by technology. 

In short, we will try to understand how to use the full potential of digital technology to implement a new health care paradigm that can respond to the challenges of contemporary society.