Although anyone should be able to vote on equal terms, an important sector of the citizenry was not guaranteed this right until 2018. On that date, 41 years after the recovery of freedoms, the law was amended that allowed suffrage to be restricted to “ those declared incapable” and “admitted to psychiatric hospitals”. Deprivation, which should have been the exception, was the rule until then.
This attack on democracy affected citizens with intellectual disabilities. Only in Catalonia live more than 75,000. This collective breaks down walls and clichés on a daily basis. "It's important that they don't laugh at us and say ugly things to us, as happened to me in childhood," explains Daniel Butler, with a 42% intellectual disability that does not prevent him from having a lucidity that many politicians would like for themselves.
In fact, Daniel Butler, 29, an assistant waiter at a Saona group restaurant, is also a politician. He will be one of the three young people with intellectual disabilities who contest the elections on Sunday. He will go in position 23 of the PSC for the mayoralty of his municipality, Sant Cugat del Vallès. The other two are Sergi Moncunill, 34 (12 for ERC in La Selva del Camp) and Artur Prat, 32 (18 for Junts in Manlleu).
Artur Prat is very nervous about the imminence of the appointment and his reference psychologists have begged that La Vanguardia not phone him to avoid destabilizing him. People around him, however, point out that he is very excited about the possibility of "being the voice of those who have no voice." That is also the goal of Sergi Moncunill, a Treasury official and an example of self-improvement.
Sergi, with 65% intellectual disability, is a veteran of political activism and the defense of collective rights. He has met on several occasions with Pere Aragonès, president of the Generalitat and co-religionist of the party. He has already appeared in the previous municipal elections, on that occasion, at number eight, a position that he has asked to delay now, due to his new work obligations.
With Law 2/2018 of December 5, which guarantees the necessary "equal treatment and non-discrimination", the horizon is broadened. Sergi is the proof. Before she was part of the staff of a Special Work Center (CET), but she studied at the university and has passed with effort and sacrifices an opposition from the Tax Agency. This official body, like all of them, must reserve places for people in their situation in their job offers.
“My new colleagues have welcomed me wonderfully. Going from working in a CET to an ordinary company is a brutal change”, explains Sergi. The same is the opinion of a non-profit organization that seeks these job opportunities: Aura Fundació, a member of Actas (Catalan Association of Supported Work, in Catalan). Aura Fundació was, for example, the bridge that led Daniel Butler to the Saona Sant Cugat restaurant.
The hand extended in the case of Sergi Moncunill is Aprodisca (Association for People with Mental Disabilities). Both Aura Fundació and Aprodisca are two of the 300 institutions that make up Dincat, the main speaker in Catalonia for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. "It is inevitable that any local public policy takes this group into account," says Víctor Galmés, director of Dincat.
It is hard to believe that many people with disabilities could not vote until 2018. That is why it is so important that Daniel, Sergi and Artur appear on electoral lists. They are the only candidates that Dincat is aware of, although it is not ruled out that there are more. The three of them hope that one day the presence of people with functional diversity or disabilities in Parliament, city councils, councils... will stop being news.
In the meantime, we must "guarantee the rights of these people, protect their families and support the non-profit social entities that work in this trench every day", adds Víctor Galmés. The war is won with simple battles, such as removing cognitive barriers and editing easy-to-read electoral programs, an achievement promoted by candidate number 12 for ERC from La Selva del Camp, among others.
Although this newsroom has not been able to speak directly with Artur for justified reasons, surely his story is very similar to that of Daniel and Sergi. Both explain wonders about their families, and especially about their mothers, Arancha and Carme (Daniel had the misfortune of losing his father, Graham, last summer due to cancer; and Sergi has cried for his father for 24 years, Manel, due to a traffic accident).
Arancha and Carme, the mothers, are very proud of all their children. From Daniel (and his sister, Laura) and from Sergi (and his brother, Oriol). “Our mothers have always made us feel like what we are: normal people with a disability,” they explain. “But society doesn't want to see us and many companies don't want to hire us. What is the use of talking so much about inclusion?” Daniel wonders. “Politicians don't do their job well. Once chosen, they live in another world and forget about the real one, ours”, adds Sergi. That's what they want. Remind them of reality.
