The Parliament has just approved Law 13/2026, amending the Civil Code of Catalonia regarding support for the exercise of legal capacity for individuals. It has done so with a very broad consensus. This law culminates a long process of adapting Catalan civil law to the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) and has been presented as one of the most important social transformations of recent years. It is easy, therefore, to get carried away by optimism. But major reforms are not measured by what they promise, but by what they manage to transform.Historically, the law responded to the difficulties in knowing or respecting the will of the person with a disability through instruments of representation and protection. These instruments attempted to facilitate the management of daily life situations that involve decision-making. However, it is also true that they often led to overly restrictive practices, and many people were relegated to a passive position in the management of their lives.In recent years, however, there has been a growing trend to identify autonomy with the absence of any form of representation, as if respecting the person necessarily required dispensing with any action on their behalf. However, this way of understanding autonomy is inconsistent with the Convention.The autonomy that inspires the Convention and the new law is essentially relational: it develops from the interaction between the person and their environment. We as individuals exercise our autonomy also when we grant powers of attorney, designate trusted persons, or make decisions intended to produce effects in the future. One of the most valuable contributions of the new law is, precisely, the commitment to voluntary support instruments, such as preventive supports, and to forms of assistance established via notary, which allow for addressing or planning situations of vulnerability and anticipating who will have to provide support and with what criteria.However, the success of the reform will not depend solely on the legal design. It will depend above all on its implementation. Precisely this year we have completed an inclusive study, developed in collaboration with people with disabilities, on the perception that people receiving support have regarding the support they actually receive. One of the first findings is as simple as it is disturbing: for many of these people, the legislative change initiated with the abolition of judicial incapacitation in 2021 has been practically imperceptible.

The event that brought together the current Minister of Economy and three former ministers, held on Monday at the College of Economists of Catalonia, and which this newspaper reported on Tuesday, was a ray of hope due to the common ground expressed by politicians from different parties who can achieve broad majorities.

Perhaps they've worn a pair of socks of each color or summer flip-flops in the middle of winter... This is what can happen if children have absolute freedom when it comes to choosing their clothes. A freedom that will undoubtedly help them "enhance" and "develop" their autonomy (and also their self-esteem). This is according to Mònica González, a social psychologist. However, without a "clear limit," adds this expert, on the type of clothing they can choose, for example, or to what extent there can be negotiation, setbacks like these will arise. "Although the quick and easy solution would be for me—the parent—to choose the clothes and, thus, adapt the clothing to the temperature and colors, we must consider the consequences. Educating children in autonomy involves having to negotiate and accept that children make decisions and mistakes," she clarifies. The final result will take more time, but we will foster an autonomy that will serve both for clothing and any other aspect of daily life.

Catalan universities are the most highly rated institutions according to the Centro de Estudios de Opinión (CEO) and top the rankings of the best centres in Spain. At the Spanish level, however, their social prestige is unknown because the Centre for Sociological Research does not take them into account. This is a small example that shows that the Catalan university system - and also the research system - has always been one step ahead. This is why Catalan universities have been particularly opposed to the plans of the Ministry of Universities, led by Manuel Castells: from the elimination of three-year degrees, which is already official, to the drafts of the future law on Universities.