The Spanish Parliament definitively approved on Thursday a modification of the Constitution intended to replace the term
"diminished"
, considered degrading, with
"disabled"
, a reform supported by all parties except the far right.
This modification of article 49 of the Spanish Constitution obtained the favorable votes of 254 senators.
Only the three senators from the far-right Vox party spoke out against, saying they did not want to vote in unison with the left in power.
The Chamber of Deputies had already approved this reform last Thursday by an overwhelming majority of 312 votes for and 32 against, those of Vox, significantly more than the required majority of three-fifths.
The Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the Popular Party, the leading opposition force on the right, agreed in December on this modification of the 1978 Constitution in order to
“update”
its
“language and content”
.
“An offense for people with disabilities
”
Until now, this article of the Constitution provided that
“the public authorities pursue a policy of prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and integration of the physically, sensory and mentally impaired”
.
The new wording indicates that
“persons with disabilities”
exercise their rights
“under conditions of real and effective freedom and equality”
.
The amended article also provides that
“the specific needs of women and disabled minors”
will be particularly taken into account.
After the vote of the deputies, Pedro Sánchez hailed
“a great day for our democracy”
.
This is the third reform of the Spanish Constitution since its approval in 1978.
“The term “diminished”, like the term “disabled”, is an offense, an insult for people with a disability”, because “we are not worth less than others”,
asserted forcefully this week in a interview with AFP
,
Mar Galcerán, the first regional elected official in Spain with Down syndrome
.
The new formulation reminds us that
“words count”,
insists Ms Galcerán, who calls for
“considering people with disabilities as people”
, regardless of their illness.