Spanish version published on Medium
Taking control of your life, deciding who to date, how to dress, or even what to order at a bar seems pretty basic. However, for many people with disabilities, even their most basic decisions are questioned.
The Mexican Senate is considering a law that would legally recognize decisions made by people with disabilities. However, even if their decisions are legally acknowledged, there is still a long road ahead before their decisions are socially accepted and respected.
People often question personal decisions made by people with disabilities. This social scrutiny places them at a disadvantage. But what’s the reason for this criticism? It is because many people question the self-determination, agency, and capacity of people with disabilities. There’s a widespread misconception that people with disabilities cannot make correct decisions for themselves.
However, do people without disabilities make good decisions all the time? How many people have regretted a tattoo? Or a bad date? How many have realized they have studied something they do not like?
The decisions we make in our life mark who we are. Mistakes are necessary to learn what we like and don’t, to define who we are and what we want to be.
This reality hits close to home. When I was a kid, my neighbor Maria had a disability. She was limited in what she was allowed to do—she had to ask for permission and forgiveness, and the frustration built up inside her. She was frustrated because others made the decisions she wasn’t allowed to make.
To empower people with disabilities, we must offer them the necessary tools to make their own decisions, not make decisions for them. After all, being unable to make your own decisions is worse than making mistakes.
-Manuel Barreiro Castañeda-