Inclusive Society

The Dominican Republic has ratified countless agreements, treaties, rules, and national regulations that strengthen the protection against discrimination of people with disabilities.

To cite a few of these compilations that can fill anyone with joy and pride who accesses them from afar but without knowing the reality we live in, they are as follows:

i) Constitution of the Dominican Republic.

In this regard, Articles 39 and 58 of the Dominican Constitution state the following:

Article 39. – Right to Equality.
“All persons are born free and equal before the law, receive the same protection and treatment from institutions, authorities, and other persons, and enjoy the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities without any discrimination based on gender, color, age, disability, nationality, family ties, language, religion, political or philosophical opinion, social or personal condition. Consequently:

The Republic condemns all privilege and situations that tend to undermine equality among Dominican men and women, where no other differences should exist except those resulting from their talents or virtues;

The State must promote legal and administrative conditions so that equality is real and effective, and adopt measures to prevent and combat discrimination, marginalization, vulnerability, and exclusion.”

Article 58 – Protection of Persons with Disabilities.
“The State shall promote, protect, and ensure the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities, on an equal basis, to foster their family, community, social, labor, economic, cultural, and political integration.”

ii) Law No. 5-13, on Disability in the Dominican Republic;

iii) Law No. 136-03, Code for the Protection System and Fundamental Rights of Children and Adolescents: Principle IV, regarding equality and non-discrimination;

iv) The Dominican State, through Resolution No. 50-01 of the National Congress dated May 15, 2001, ratified the Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities, which establishes the right of persons with disabilities not to be discriminated against;

v) The Dominican Republic ratified, through Resolution No. 458-08 of the National Congress, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, promulgated on October 30, 2008;

vi) At the fourth plenary session of the Organization of American States (OAS), held in the Dominican Republic on June 6, 2006, the Declaration of the Decade of the Americas for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted;

vii) The Dominican Judiciary is a signatory of the 100 Brasília Rules on Access to Justice for Vulnerable Persons, adopted at the XIV Ibero-American Judicial Summit of Presidents of Supreme Courts and Supreme Tribunals of Justice, held in Brasília, Brazil, in March 2008.

It is commendable that we have so much regulatory support intended to protect persons with disabilities, who currently represent more than 7% of the population of the Dominican Republic, but the reality is that none of the above is fully respected. People with disabilities continue to suffer social, cultural, labor, economic, and often familial exclusion, resulting in sad and depressing scenarios.

For a true equality policy for persons with disabilities to be effectively implemented, we must develop a sense of sensitivity and a change of mindset towards anyone with special conditions; promote that public and private spaces have adequate access for these individuals; provide facilities and/or access to education at all levels; offer adequate transportation services for persons with disabilities; amplify information related to equality policies; use non-exclusionary and non-discriminatory language; and show genuine willingness to include them in jobs for which they are qualified.