Support for people with disabilities in Ecuador

El CLACSO Working Group on Critical Studies in Disability within the framework of the various actions carried out throughout Latin America, on the occasion of December 3rd, International Day of Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities, joins and raises its voice for the demands of people with disabilities for the guarantee of their rights, the elimination of inequality and poverty, access to work, health and decent education; the fight for peace and the elimination of the violence that systematically afflicts these bodies.

All those slogans expressed by militants, activists and their organizations, associations, collectives, movements, who demonstrated politically both in public spaces and on social networks during all these days.

In this context, we stand in solidarity with the struggle of people with disabilities in Ecuador, particularly with the Guayas Association of People with Disabilities. It is public knowledge that in 2020, an entire scheme orchestrated by officials of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) for the fraudulent sale and issuance of disability cards was denounced. This allowed individuals who do not have a disability to obtain various tax exemptions, especially for the importation of high-end vehicles.

To date, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) has not informed the public whether or not those officials have been sanctioned. On the contrary, the sector of people with disabilities who do not yet have a disability card, or who need to be re-evaluated to renew it, has been harmed. Due to the administrative investigations, the existing Disability Assessment Units were closed. Currently, in the city of Guayaquil, only two assessment units handle this matter, resulting in unacceptably long waiting times for the delivery of these documents. We join the demand of people with disabilities who are requesting the creation of new Disability Assessment Units so that the needs of those requiring this document can be addressed promptly.

We demand that the relevant authorities in Ecuador take the necessary actions to sanction the officials involved, and also pay attention to the consequences that this type of bad practice and violence has on people with disabilities, hindering their dignified access to the fulfillment of their rights established in the country.

We believe that there is a complicit silence on the part of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), by not demanding, as a direct victim, that the Attorney General's Office file criminal charges against the perpetrators of the scheme organized for the fraudulent issuance of disability cards.

A large majority of people with disabilities in Ecuador and Latin America live in precarious and socially vulnerable conditions; it is urgent to seek immediate solutions against any action that does not contribute to the exercise and guarantee of rights.

December 11th 2023
CLACSO Working Groups
Critical studies in disability

This text expresses the position of CLACSO Working Groups Critical Studies in Disability and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.