May the right hand not know what the left hand is doing. What's more, it does the opposite. That it is one thing to preach and quite another to give wheat. There is not always a clue to land from words to actions. And from that difficulty, which is sometimes impossible, the universe grows that separates what we say from what we do. What we would like to be and what we really are.
All of Spain has congratulated itself on Mar Galcerán's act as deputy to Corts Valencianes. A story of personal improvement that we like to boast about as a collective because we all feel like participants in it. Galcerán is the first Spanish citizen with Down syndrome to sit in parliament. Hence, no one has been left on home soil without congratulating her. An example of inclusion, of personal struggle, of not throwing in the towel. The protagonist also experiences her political adventures, of course!, like the cyclist who crowns a special category port. “I ask you to work, not to give up anything because you can achieve what you set your mind to. At first it is hard, but you have to overcome yourself, set goals and objectives, because in the end, no matter what the cost, with perseverance you always achieve it.”
Galcerán as an example of inclusion. The battering ram of a society that does not point out those born different, but simply sees in them all the potential of humanity. This is the story for which we have congratulated ourselves these days. More or less as we do year after year, when the calendar marks the day dedicated to Down syndrome. We are equal, we are the same, we tell ourselves. Mar Galcerán is the indelible proof that certifies it. Inclusion is a fact. Let's raise our glasses: Cheers!
So much for the adventures of the right hand. Let's go now with the left.
Fewer and fewer children are being born with Down syndrome. And not because nature has decided to behave in a different way, but because as the techniques to detect it in the fetus are more effective, the decision to eliminate it is more common. Eugenics is a reality. The projections of the entities that work in this area indicate that up to 95% of pregnancies in which it is known that the baby will be born with the syndrome end in abortion. If she were conceived today, Mar Galcerán, the brand new deputy, would have much less chance of becoming one in future elections. Not because there were no parties willing to incorporate her into her lists, but because she would have a difficult time being born. Spain, like other countries, is moving determinedly towards a society without Down syndrome. Only at the same time it celebrates the successes of people with this syndrome already born. A nice farewell.
We could call this contradiction the paradox of equality. The celebration of an anecdote with great symbolic value - the act of deputy in the hands of a person with Down syndrome - as an act of recognition of the effective equality and inclusion of a group, while at the same time through the most In the background, discrimination against those same people becomes more aggressive and visible than ever, preventing the birth of their equals.
It is not a debate about abortion, although it may seem that way at first glance. It is rather about the extent to which we accept as truth, beyond what we proclaim, that a person with Down syndrome has the same dignity as any other and that their genetic particularities do not in any way affect the way we look at them. And at this point the truth is that we did not pass the cotton test. Through decisions we recognize them less right to live than the rest. That is why most legislation extends the periods in which abortion can be performed taking into account the criterion of disability that accompanies those with Down syndrome.
Mar Galcerán gives us back in the mirror the most graceful reflection of ourselves. We observe in the public recognition of it what we want to be. And we like each other. Only the reality that runs parallel to that self-complacency is of a very different nature. It is enough to be aware of it. Not to overwhelm us with moral judgments - each one to himself - but to not forget that we live with two hands. And many times they act in the opposite direction. Down syndrome is one of them.
