Accessibility of people with disabilities in Spain and Portugal: legal perspective

Abstract

This article presents in a descriptive and comparative way how progress has been made, in the promotion and implementation of measures to achieve greater accessibility for people with disabilities, from the legal and administrative perspective in Spain and Portugal. Accessibility is the main means to achieve full integration and participation in society, as well as the unavoidable budget for the exercise of the rights that protect this important sector of the population. It is a right recognized in the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, chaired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In relation to this right, and from the Portuguese and Spanish perspective, norms that regulate and protect it are being developed simultaneously. Therefore, in this work a descriptive analysis of the legislative development in both countries is carried out and different approaches are confronted. Accessibility needs measures that associate inclusion, human rights and social equity for people with disabilities. For this reason, it is essential that the different administrations demonstrate positive attitudes in their practices, to ensure access on equal terms with others, in order to achieve their full integration into society.