Rights of people with disabilities still depend on 'postal code', mechanism warns

The rights of people with disabilities in Portugal continue to vary significantly depending on the region of the country where the person lives, according to an alert from the National Mechanism for Monitoring the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Me-CDPD). This situation, described as a 'postal code' dependency, indicates that citizens with disabilities do not have equal access to their rights regardless of their geographical location.

The Me-CDPD warned that, despite the legislative advances achieved in Portugal, the main current problem is no longer the lack of laws protecting people with disabilities. The real challenge lies in the unequal application of these same laws in different parts of the national territory.

This alert was issued through a report prepared by the National Mechanism for Monitoring the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which documents the persistent disparities in the realization of the rights of these people. The document shows that, even with adequate legislation, its implementation varies significantly according to the region of the country.