Mar Galcerán says she is tired of hearing people refer to people with intellectual disabilities as "God's angels" or "eternal children". Because for years this 44-year-old woman from Valencia, with Down syndrome, has been fighting to "eradicate stereotypes, so that we are treated as people without, when people look at us, seeing only our disability". Galcerán also achieved her dream this week: she will soon be a member of the Valencian Parliament for the PP. “I want to fight from the institution to give visibility to people like me; this is my challenge". And she sends a message to those like her who work to gain visibility in all areas of professional life: "I ask them to work, not to give anything up because they can achieve what they set their mind to. It's hard at first, but you have to overcome yourself, set goals and objectives so that in the end, no matter what it costs, with perseverance, you always achieve it".
President Carlos Mazón, with whom she maintains a friendly relationship, put her at number 20 on the regional lists for the 28-M elections. She was one step away from achieving it. But since then, several deputies have been called to take up positions in the new Valencian Administration of the PP and Vox, which has caused what is known as a "rush of lists". On the issue, he insists on his gratitude to the Valencian president: "He believes in what I believe, and he has given me a great opportunity that I plan to take advantage of."
The plenary session of the Valencian Executive approved on Tuesday the appointment of a regional deputy, Ernesto Fernández Pardo, as director general of the Valencian Agency for Housing and Land (EVHA), an appointment that was published yesterday in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat Valenciana (DOGV). The deputy will have to leave his seat, and Mar Galcerán will replace him in a few days in the first plenary session of the Valencian Courts. She will be the first deputy of an autonomous Parliament in Spain with Down syndrome.
This woman, a great conversationalist and very active on social networks, has spent her entire life dedicated to politics. He remembers how young he signed up for New Generations of the PP to do political activism in favor of the party "with which I have always felt identified; I believe in the values of the Popular Party". He collaborated in acts under the presidency of the PP of Eduardo Zaplana and Francisco Camps. "I loved being at the campaign events," he says. In parallel, and "always encouraged by my mother", she dedicated herself to studying and actively collaborating with Asindown, an association of which she became president in Valencia for four years. "Even today I continue to help families and young people who ask me; I have never stopped fighting for them", he says.
"I'm a woman who challenges myself", she insists. That's why he managed to become an assistant home technician and an assistant technician in a children's home and won an opposition 26 years ago. He spent 13 years as an interim in the Ministry of the Presidency of the Generalitat Valenciana and, from 2010, held a junior position in the Ministry of Social Welfare, from where he jumped to the Ministry of Equality and Inclusive Policies . He who has even been a major failure of his commission in Valencia (he lives in the Marítim district) currently has a position in the Department of Health of the Generalitat Valenciana.
Mar Galcerán believes that society has changed, "but there is still a lot to be done to normalize the relationship with people with intellectual disabilities". In conversation with this newspaper, he affirms that "difference should be seen as a value, not as a problem". He considers that getting a seat in the Courts "is a great success", and longs "to be able to be in an area that allows us to be visible and generate policies for the benefit of all these people".
He admits that life has not been easy for him at times. But he emphasizes that he has always had clear goals, and that his "difference" should not be a reason to give up. During the conversation he repeats how important "visibility" is for the intellectually disabled. "If you can't see us, it's hard to know who we are and what we want." She has made history and her case is finally excellent news.
