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243

Mar Galcerán makes history as Spain’s first parliamentarian with Down’s syndrome (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

39 comments fedilink hide all child comments

After being elected to Valencia’s regional assembly, Galcerán says she wants to be seen as a person, not for her disability

For decades she battled to ensure that people with intellectual disabilities were part of the conversation. The extent of the progress she had made, however, was laid bare recently when Mar Galcerán became Spain’s first parliamentarian with Down’s syndrome.

“It’s unprecedented,” the 45-year-old told the Guardian. “Society is starting to see that people with Down’s syndrome have a lot to contribute. But it’s a very long road.”

Her feat has been decades in the making. When Galcerán was 18 years old, she joined the conservative People’s party (PP) after being attracted to what she described as its embrace of tradition.

Slowly she worked her way up the party apparatus. Her commitment paid off last May when she was added as the 20th name on the list of candidates the PP was fielding in Valencia’s regional elections.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 10 months ago (4 children)

It's a shame she's a conservative, but the fact that she even made it to that position says a lot about her and about the acceptance in Spanish society. In the UK having this kind of representation is decades away, if at all...

[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Tbh, my biggest concern would be that she's being taken advantage of by a group or family member for political gain. I work a lot with the disabled community and have several patients with downs syndrome.

While people with downs syndrome are a lot more capable than most people give credit and are perfectly capable of contributing to society. I can't say I've ever met a person with down syndrome that would enjoy working in a position that is so dynamic. They typically thrive in routine and in jobs where they can physically engage with their work. J

[+] [email protected] -19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Presuming competence is one of the cornerstones of working with and caring for disabled people. Maybe try that, instead of essentially erasing her achievements and agency? No group is a monolith and you don't actually know anything about her other than that she's dedicated her adult life to politics and has obviously been quite successful at it (and especially not what support or routine she has in place to enable that).

Maybe it's your own bias you should be worried about.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Presuming competence is one of the cornerstones of working with and caring for disabled people.

That's a nonsensical idiom. You have to evaluate every patient's competency and ability to achieve patient compliance individually, disabled or not.

Maybe try that, instead of essentially erasing her achievements and agency? No group is a monolith

Which is why I didn't make any definitive statement, I just stated a reasonable concern. There are a plethora of examples of parents or organizations taking advantage of people with disabilities.

While no groups of people are monoliths, many people who share certain diagnoses will share similar personality traits. For example we wouldn't assume someone with a social anxiety disorder would thrive as a public speaker.

Maybe it's your own bias you should be worried about.

Maybe you should adopt a more dialectical approach to subjects you don't have experience in. Not everything fits within a dichotomy of right or wrong, context is everything.

[+] [email protected] -6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

And maybe you should learn to listen to disabled people about ableism (never mind actual guidelines on how to work with disabled people in general, and people with Down's Syndrome specifically, a significant volume of which mention the long standing "nonsensical idiom" you're dismissing because you are unfamiliar and it makes you uncomfortable to acknowledge, something you would know if you simply looked it up which I didn't need to, but which took literally 2 seconds to do), rather than assume we "have no experience" (again - dismissing agency) and talk over us because that's easier than admitting that you even have bias, never mind *shock horror* might actually be wrong about something and have a really dismissive and infantilising attitude (you're not even special, unfortunately these attitudes are prevalent in people who work with disabled people and automatically think it makes them infallible saints. Hell, these jobs attract people who think they're better than us, and know better than us about us). And yet, to an outsider in an ableist society, you seem more qualified to speak on disability than disabled people are, and you confirm their ableist bias which makes them comfortable and even less willing to listen to us, so well done on actively contributing to ableism cycle..
It's fucked up on so many levels, but mostly I feel bad for your clients.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

And maybe you should learn to listen to disabled people about ableism

I don't think you get to define ableism for all disabled people......

never mind actual guidelines on how to work with disabled people in general, and people with Down's Syndrome specifically,

Those are all guides for educators..... I work in medicine, this isn't applicable to your argument or this discussion?

Hell, these jobs attract people who think they're better than us, and know better than us about us). And yet, to an outsider in an ableist society, you seem more qualified to speak on disability than disabled people are, and you confirm their ableist bias which makes them comfortable and even less willing to listen to us, so well done on actively contributing to ableism cycle..

I think you may be inappropriately projecting your own feelings about your condition, whatever it may be, to this particular argument. Just because you are disabled, doesn't mean that you represent everyone with a disability. I have a disability, which is one of the reasons I went into my field. However, that doesnt mean I truly understand what it's like for people with other disabilities. I can just provide context based on my own perspective and what I have learned in school and from my patients.

but mostly I feel bad for your clients

Get over yourself, you're not the only disabled person on the Internet. Some of us just don't make it the centerpiece of their entire personality.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There might be a good reason for that...

[–] [email protected] -4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Care to elaborate?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

https://sopuli.xyz/comment/6131361

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

What does being a conservative mean in Spain? Is it similar/the same as the U.S.?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I wouldn't go so far as saying the same... But some similarities sure. I mean some differences too.

For example they aren't as much pro self defence weapons for example except extreme right groups of course. Abortion also isn't liked but they aren't as extreme about it either... Lighther version of the US conservatives I would say, at least in some topics.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I wouldn't be able to tell you specifically, but conservativism at its core is about opposing progress and maintaining "traditional values" like capitalism, nationalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, cis-heteronormativity, and abled supremacy, so it's never good.
This is the party she represents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Party_(Spain), a quick skim tells me they opposed same-sex marriage and have been involved in a lot of financial corruption.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I know nothing about Spain's political parties, and I'm personally not a fan of conservative parties, but just to point out the obvious:

abled supremacy

The whole reason this thread and news article exists seems to refute that. I know it's only one data point, but the situation is notable on a global scale.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

You're having a fucking laugh, right? There are literally people in this thread saying (or upvoting those that say) this should be illegal.

The whole reason this thread and news article exists seems to refute that. I know it’s only one data point, but the situation is notable on a global scale.

I honestly don't care how you've managed to convince yourself that what you recognise is a single anecdote, and is only getting global coverage because of how rare and unusual it is, somehow refutes the existence of abled supremacy, but it doesn't. If anything, it proves its existence.

The idea that disabled people are seen or treated as equal and equitable in our societies is so wildly and wilfully ignorant, I honestly don't have words..