Argentina

Key Factors: The struggle for disability rights is being waged against a backdrop of deep social and economic deterioration that gave way to a profound crisis in 2001. The change of government in 2003 has created expectations for positive change.

Terminology

In general, existing laws use appropriate terminology except in a few circumstances. The laws on retirement and pensions use the terms "minusvalía" and "minusválidos." When directly quoting such documents within this report, these phrases have been translated as "handicap" and "handicapped", respectively. The Civil Code does not refer to disability, but to "demencia," "demente," and "insano," translated as "dementia," "demented," and "insanity," respectively. It also uses the term "sordomudos," translated as "deaf mute". Even though this language is currently regarded as offensive by the disability community, its redrafting has not been formally proposed.¹ Additionally, in the fi eld of education, the term "disability" is not used. Rather, reference is made to "necesidades educativas especiales" which has been translated as "special educational needs."

Definition of Disability

The defi nition of disability used in most offi cial papers and legal documents is derived from Law 22431, also known as the Comprehensive System of Protection for Persons with Disabilities Act. Pursuant to Section 2, "a disabled person is an individual suffering from a permanent or long-term functional disorder, either physical or mental, which, in relation to his or her age and social environment, implies a considerable disadvantage for his or her family, social, educational or labor integration."²

^1. Alicia Bustos Fierro (lawyer, social worker, former Director of Legal and International Affairs of the Presidential National Advisory Committee for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, former representative of the Southern Cone to the Executive Committee of the Ibero-American Network of Disability Policies, former Head of the Litigation Offi ce of the Ministry of Labor), interviewed by author, Buenos Aires, 22 September 2003; Daniel Sarmiento (lawyer, Assistant Secretary, Offi ce of Public Guardians for the Mentally Ill, Federal District of La Plata), interviewed by author, Province of Buenos Aires, 19 September 2003.

^2. Law 22431, 16 March 1981, www.cndisc.gov.ar.