Spain replaces “disabled” with “disabled” in the Constitution

The Spanish Parliament definitively approved this Thursday the replacement in the Spanish Constitution of the term “diminished”now considered pejorative, for “disabled”a reform supported by all parties, except the extreme right.

The modification of article 49 of the Constitution obtained the favorable votes of 254 senators. Only the three senators from the far-right Vox party spoke out against it, stating that they did not want to vote alongside the left in power.

“The term disabled, the term handicapped, is an offense, an insult to the group of people with disabilities.“Mar Galcerán, the first person with Down syndrome to be elected regional deputy in Spain, explained to AFP.

This change is a reminder that ““words matter”said Galcerán, who demanded that people with disabilities be considered “people”regardless of their condition.

The Congress of Deputies had approved the reform last Thursday, by an overwhelming majority of 312 votes in favor and 32 against, those of Vox, well above the three-fifths majority required for a reform of the Constitution.

The Socialist Party of the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, and the right-wing Popular Party – the main opposition force – agreed in December to promote this change in the 1978 Constitution, for its “update” in “language and content”.

In its original formulation, article 49 said that “Public authorities will 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 “in conditions of real and effective freedom and equality.” The new article also provides that “the specific needs of women and minors with disabilities” will be addressed in particular.

When the change was approved by the deputies, Pedro Sánchez spoke of “a great day for our democracy.” This is the third reform of the Spanish Constitution since its approval in 1978.