Thanks to Comunidad Educativa Incluyente for providing this information.

The current situation

Until very recently, people with disabilities could not make decisions about their lives because the law restricted their legal capacity.

In recent years, a group of organizations of people with disabilities, self-advocates and experts, have worked on a legislative proposal that makes the right to decide a reality for all people, including people with disabilities.

This was led by CONFE, a network of national associations and institutions dedicated to intellectual disabilities.

The proposal was presented on February 16 2023, in the Legislative Assembly of Mexico City.

It proposed to modify the Civil Code of Mexico City to respect the right to universal legal capacity and establish the possibility that all people, especially people with disabilities, can have the support they want to make their own decisions.

Examples of these supports can be:

• the explanation of the implications of certain acts with simple language or according to the characteristics of the person so that he can make a decision;
• unconventional communication methods such as drawings or gestures;
• reading the documents to be signed.

The legislative proposal follows in the footsteps of other reforms that have taken place in the region in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

These regulatory changes seek to ensure the right of people with disabilities to equality before the law.

Thus, by modifying their legislation, Colombia, Peru and Costa Rica have already taken the important step of eradicating legal obstacles so that people with disabilities can exercise their legal capacity and, with this, be the main agents of their lives and the exercise of their rights.

---

Take action.

Contact Comunidad Educativa Incluyente to support this campaign in your country.