The Council of Ministers of 11 May approved the Project for the Reform of Article 49 of the Spanish Constitution on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Spain.

This reform is a step forward in the shaping of the social state proclaimed in our Constitution, focusing on the section devoted to the guiding principles of social and economic policy, more specifically the protection of people with disabilities. This aims to increase the impact of these principles on the social reality on which they are designed and thus to advance the social protection of those sectors of the population that need it most.

The reform of Article 49 of the Spanish Constitution took place on the basis of the Commission’s proposal for comprehensive disability policies, with the participation of the group of people with disabilities, represented by CERMI.

Firstly, the terminology used in the article is modified to refer now to the collective of people with disabilities. In this way, language is updated in a way that reflects the very values of the Constitution and the inherent dignity of this collective.

Secondly, the structure of the article is reformed in line with the multiplication of approaches to addressing disability. Thus, the precept is divided into four sections, each of which reflects a different dimension of the protection of persons with disabilities.

Thirdly, the content of the article is modified to adapt it to the current conceptions on the protection of people with disabilities, which are no longer based on the medical-rehabilitative conception underlying its original wording.

This puts the emphasis on the rights and duties of persons with disabilities, as free and equal citizens.

The situation of special vulnerability of women and girls with disabilities clearly justifies that the new article 49 of the Constitution makes an express reference to the specific attention to their needs.

Finally, and as a closing clause, a reference is made to the protection offered by the international treaties ratified by Spain that guarantee the rights of persons with disabilities.

You can see the articulated text of the new article 49 of the constitution in Reference of the Council of Ministers