Mar Galceran He is the first person with Down syndrome elected as a representative in Spain. This week he proposed in the Spanish Parliament “to change the vision that society has of disability”, an issue that brought to a review of the approved Spanish Constitution this Thursday.
At 46 years old, this political leader joined the circle of people with Down syndrome in September who hold political positions in Europe, by taking his seat in the regional parliament from Valencia, in eastern Spain.
We must “change the vision that society has regarding people with disabilities,” according to what the parliamentarian he explained to AFP in it hemicycle of the Valencian Courts.
What is intended to be reformed in the Spanish Constitution?
What will be done for Constitution Spanish 1978, definitively approved this Thursday by the Spanish Senateis replace the term “diminished”, considered degrading, for that of “disabled”.
As happened last week in the Lower House, the text was approved by an overwhelming majority of senators, well above the necessary three-fifths, and only with the votes against the far-right party Vox.
“The term of handicapped and the term of handicapped, it is an offense. It is an insult to the group of people with disabilities,” he said. Galceran to the AFP.
This reform, which also expands the rights of the group, is the third modification of the Spanish Constitution since its approval in 1978, three years after the end of the Franco regime, being also the first of a social nature.
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What did the constitutional article say before and what will it say now?
In its original formulation, the article 49 of the Constitution It stipulated that “the public powers carry out a policy of provision, treatment, rehabilitation and integration of the physically, sensorially and mentally handicapped.”
The new wording establishes that “people with disabilities” will exercise their rights “under conditions of real and effective freedom and equality”.
The new article also provides that particular attention will be given to “the specific needs of women and minors with disabilities”.
Who is Mar Galcerán, the conservative deputy with Down syndrome in Spain?
Affiliated with People’s Party At the age of 18, this regional representative has since fought against the discrimination suffered due to her genetic difference, mainly when she was president of Asindown, a Valencian association of people with Down’s Syndrome.
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Fond of running and dancing, she retains in her memory an adolescence marked by “rejection”.
“I had companions, but no friends, because they saw me as a different person” and “they didn’t count on me,” he remembers. So “yes I had rejectionthis rejection that people with disabilities have.
More than society or public policies, this former childcare assistant gives thanks above all to her “family” for having it “supported in decisions” which he took.
After taking his seat, Galcerán became involved in the parliamentary commission on disability, which, according to her, deserves a strategy “cross” that includes health, family, education and employmentand where there is still much to do.
He considers the constitutional reform positive, but believes that the change had “to have gone ahead” and “don’t wait until now.”
Source: Ambito
