The NC-BC parliamentarian Natalia Santana requested this Wednesday that the councillor Esther Monzón create a dedicated office for families with disabilities before the end of the legislative term.
The spokesperson for Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-BC) on disability issues, Natalia Santana, asked this Wednesday the Minister of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, Esther Monzón, for the establishment of a dedicated office for families of people with disabilities in Fuerteventura. The request was made during a parliamentary committee appearance, where Santana reminded that the proposal has been on the table for two years without being realised.
Insufficient progress despite expedited assessments
Santana acknowledged that progress has been made, such as the reduction of waiting times for disability assessments thanks to the streamlining of procedures and the improvement of the assessment team in Fuerteventura. She also positively evaluated the work of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit on the island. However, she warned that these advances “cannot hide the significant structural deficiencies that still exist.”
The parliamentarian lamented that, two years later, the same demands made to the CC and PP Government remain largely unchanged. “The disability certificate arrives, but afterwards there are no necessary resources to guarantee the rights it recognises,” she denounced.
Lack of therapies for minors and caregiver overload
Among the most serious deficiencies, Santana pointed out the insufficiency of therapeutic resources for minors with disabilities. She cited the example of a child with non-verbal autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who receives only one weekly speech therapy session, which is “clearly insufficient” and jeopardises their development. Additionally, many families on the island cannot afford private therapies due to the high poverty rates in Fuerteventura.
The spokesperson also alerted to the lack of specialised care for diabetic minors with disabilities due to the prolonged absence of a paediatric endocrinologist on the island. Furthermore, she denounced the caregiver overload of nursing staff, who endure shifts of up to twelve hours and continuous changes between hospital services, which affects the quality of care for people with disabilities.
Universal accessibility: a pending subject
Regarding accessibility, Santana criticised that the Canary Islands are still far from ensuring effective universal accessibility. Although she acknowledged improvements in infrastructure such as ramps and elevators, she denounced the absence of a homogeneous system of accessible communication in healthcare centres through pictograms and easy language. She proposed that the government of Fernando Clavijo establish agreements with entities like Plena Inclusión Canarias to adapt health and administrative information to easy reading, thus facilitating the understanding of diagnoses, medical reports, and procedures such as appointment requests through 012.
The dedicated office, also advocated by the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities (Cermi Canarias), would allow families to be supported from the very beginning, coordinating all available resources. “Families receive the diagnosis and begin a true pilgrimage without knowing which doors to knock on,” Santana explained.
The parliamentarian concluded that disability “still has a long way to go” and that, beyond announcements, “what we need are realities that improve the quality of life for people and their families.” Councillor Monzón did not immediately respond to the request, but it is expected that the debate will resume in the Canary Parliament in the coming weeks.
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