Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in Catalonia will be able to apply for the benefit of the long-awaited ELA law Starting next week, a year and a half after its approval in the Congress of Deputies, the Catalan government will give the green light to its implementation at its weekly meeting on Tuesday, March 17th, and patients will be able to apply that same week. Once it receives an application, the Catalan executive will have a maximum of three months to respond, recognize the degree of disability, and provide the assistance. The Department of Social Rights estimates that there are around 200 people who can apply for Level III+ of extreme dependency—created specifically for this condition—which is intended to guarantee the rights of those suffering from it. incurable neurodegenerative disease to receive specialized service up to 24 hours a day if needed.

The collection of signatures has already begun for one of the first popular legislative initiatives (ILP) in the field of social services in Catalonia: a proposal that seeks to safeguard care for people with disabilities through a non-profit model. The initiative, driven by a group of families and individuals connected to the disability community, originated from the concerns of a group of mothers and fathers in Girona, but it unites the entire Catalan disability community. The action advocates that the exclusive social contracting of services for this group be managed by non-profit organizations. The objective is to guarantee personalized, comprehensive, and continuous support, free from economic interests and focused on the real needs of individuals. The Parliament of Catalonia accepted the proposal for processing on October 9, and the official act of authorizing the notaries took place on October 20. Starting that week, the challenge for the organizing group is to collect 50,000 signatures within 120 days, an essential requirement to open the parliamentary debate.

Hand disability and dependency, complementary aid, and more support at home. These are some of the new features of the draft reform of the dependency and disability laws that the Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday in the second round of voting. It now faces parliamentary proceedings. The Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, has defended the initiatives as "far-reaching" in the legislature because, on the one hand, they protect people with disabilities from discrimination and, on the other, they project the new care model into the future, assuming the high rates of population aging in the coming years.

The Ministry of Social Rights has reported to the Prosecutor's Office the remarks of the Bishop Emeritus of Alcalá de Henares, Antonio Reig Pla, who stated in a homily that disability is "an inheritance of sin and the disorder of nature." The Spanish government indicates that he may have committed a crime by promoting or inciting discrimination, thus contradicting the law on equal treatment.

More than 9,000 Catalans died last year waiting that they be recognized as having a degree of dependency or a benefit. This figure means that every hour a person dies unattended, without having received the right recognized in the dependency law. This is what happened to Alfredo M., Isabel Fernández's husband, who died at the age of 62 in mid-March, before his Individual Care Plan (PIA) was approved, which determines the benefits or services to which one is entitled based on disability. As a result of his death, the family You are not entitled to receive retroactively What the government didn't provide her during her lifetime due to year-long waiting lists. Despite her grief and pain, the widow finds strength to denounce a situation she considers "unfair."

Eduard Ges' daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was eight months old. From then on, a real bureaucratic labyrinth began, which all families go through to access a dependency benefit, and which can be summed up in two words: ratings and information. The access door to services recognized by the dependency law - which is not only designed for older people - is a real headache due to the long waiting lists that force people to pay in advance. The girl is now two years and four months old and requires numerous sessions of physiotherapy and psychologists in private centers while public aid is not coming. "Every day is a battle with the paperwork," complains Ges.

This Tuesday's Council of Ministers approved the reform of the Dependency Law and the General Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The regulatory changes, piloted by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption, and the 2030 Agenda, under the leadership of Pablo Bustinduy, were approved in the second round, and are now headed to the Congress of Deputies. Among the notable measures is the elimination of the incompatibility between dependency benefits and services.