Statement from the Accessibility Subgroup of the Critical Disability Studies Working Group
The following statement represents the opinions of the Accessibility Subgroup and does not include all members of the CLACSO Working Group on Critical Disability Studies.
From the Accessibility Subgroup of CLACSO Working Group on Critical Disability Studies We are publicly expressing our concern regarding a series of events that occurred during the 13th International Congress of the Latin American and Caribbean Inter-University Network on Disability and Human Rights (REDLAT), entitled “Right to Higher Education from the Perspective of Diversity and Accessibility: Towards Strengthening Democracy from the Perspective of Minorities and Their Rights,” held on November 6 and 7 of this year in the Republic of Paraguay. These events had unfortunate consequences for the presentation of the Digital Accessibility Manual: From Commitment to Fulfillment, which we organized on December 10.
Below, we briefly describe what REDLAT is. As stated in the introduction to the inaugural document of the 13th Congress, REDLAT has established itself as a leading forum for debate, reflection, and collective action regarding the future of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its mission explicitly declares the need to make visible and remove the barriers to access and participation that still restrict the full exercise of the right to higher education, especially for historically marginalized groups, calling on institutions to assume a leading role in this process. In this context, it is particularly concerning that during the organization and development of the aforementioned Congress, situations arose that blatantly contradict the principles and guarantees of accessibility, inclusion, and institutional responsibility that REDLAT itself upholds.
One of our colleagues from the Accessibility Subgroup, Susana Grosso, a person with a dependent visual impairment, faced this situation when she needed to arrange her in-person participation to present a paper. Her work was specifically designed to align with the thematic focus of “University Policies on Interculturality, Diversity, and Disability in the Countries of the Region,” suggested by Dr. Marcela Méndez, Coordinator of REDLAT. From the outset of her registration, our colleague requested reasonable accommodations to guarantee her full and effective participation, in accordance with international human rights standards and the principles that REDLAT claims to uphold. After several exchanges via email and instant messaging with the Congress Coordination, they expressed their inability and outright refusal to guarantee these reasonable accommodations. This response not only violated her fundamental rights but also revealed a serious ableist contradiction between the institutional discourse and the concrete practices at the event.
The public questioning by our colleague to the congressional authorities led Dr. Marcela Méndez to cancel her participation in the presentation of the Digital Accessibility Manual: From Commitment to Compliance. Her participation as a commentator on the publication had been arranged well in advance, but it was abruptly canceled shortly before December 10th, after the program had been circulating on CLACSO's social media for several days. It should be noted that Dr. Méndez contacted Susana Grosso to cancel her participation, citing the start of her family vacation at that time. She later also contacted CLACSO via email demanding that her name and that of REDLAT be removed from the presentation poster. Needless to say, her decision forced us to reorganize the presentation program in a very short timeframe.
From the Accessibility Subgroup of the Critical Disability Studies Working Group, we consider it essential to document these situations as an ethical, political, and legal call to action regarding the need for consistency between the principles that are proclaimed and the practices that are upheld. We reaffirm that accessibility and reasonable accommodations are not concessions or gestures of goodwill, but rather ethical, political, and legal obligations, especially in spaces that proclaim themselves defenders of the right to higher education from a human rights perspective.
Finally, we urge REDLAT, the organizing countries, in this case Paraguay, and all the institutions involved to critically review their organizational practices, to guarantee real conditions for participation for people with disabilities, and to maintain academic links based on
Respect, institutional responsibility, and political coherence in future events. Reasonable adjustments were not considered from the outset of this Congress, a fact confirmed by its President, César Martínez, who reiterated that these requirements had not been contemplated to guarantee the
Our colleague's in-person participation. We express our strong rejection of these policies and urge a thorough and responsible personal and professional review for future events.
December 23th 2025
Accessibility Subgroup
Signed by: Intergroup Commission for the Elimination of Gender Violence from Academia
This text expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Groups and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
