Four candidates with Down Syndrome stand for local elections
Thursday, May 16, 2019 @ 8:09 PM
FOUR young adults with Down Syndrome are standing for the local elections on May 26, each in different regions.
Blanca San Segundo, 29, is number eight on the list for the centre-right party Ciudadanos in Godella (Valencia province) and stresses that 'people with mental disability are not ill' and in fact 'tend to have more empathy', which she says is 'necessary' in politics.
“You need to be able to put yourself in other people's shoes,” says the special education worker.
“People confuse mental disability with mental illness, and it's not the same.”
Blanca is just about to graduate from Valencia University with a degree in Occupational Therapy, and has not needed extra learning support or an adapted curriculum to do so.
She says she has 'never been given any special concessions' in any area of life and has achieved everything she has 'through effort and consistency', which are values she believes should be present in any level of government.
“For a disabled person to be able to defend his or her ideas and for these ideas to reach local politics is important,” Blanca argues.
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