📋 Tender Overview
The First Chamber of Transitory Constitutional and Social Law of the Supreme Court, presided over by Judge Janet Tello Gilardi, applied the concept of reasonable accommodation, as established in Law No. 29973 – Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
In a written statement, lawyer Víctor Otoya Petit, who suffers from bilateral severe deafness, asked the Supreme Court to participate in a cassation hearing attended by one of his clients.
The lawyer presented his certificate of disability registered by Conadis, as well as a copy of his care card from the National Institute of Rehabilitation, whose medical record includes the diagnosis "Bilateral Profound Sensorineural Hypocausia" (one of the most serious deafness that exists).
In view of this, the Supreme Court ordered the application of "reasonable accommodations", that is, to enable the necessary adaptations to eliminate the barriers that prevent the full inclusion and participation of people with disabilities and guarantee the exercise of their rights.
In this case, the Supreme Court determined in the hearing, held virtually, to enable the subtitling of the computer equipment of all the procedural parties.
In addition to Tello Gilardi, the First Chamber of Transitory Constitutional and Social Law is made up of Supreme Judges Carlos Alberto Calderón Puertas (incumbent), Omar Toledo Toribio, Edwin Ricardo Corrales Melgarejo and Rosa Liliana Dávila Broncano.
APPLYING THE PROTOCOL
It should be noted that the Commission on Access to Justice for Persons in Vulnerable Conditions, which is also chaired by Judge Tello Gilardi, drafted, in 2018, the Protocol for Judicial Attention for Persons with Disabilities.
This normative document guarantees the participation of persons with disabilities in all judicial processes in which they are involved, through the adoption of procedural and accessibility adjustments appropriate to their particular conditions.
The aforementioned protocol also includes the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), which marked the beginning of a paradigm shift.
This new approach replaces the traditional model of substitution and adopts the model of supporting persons with disabilities in decision-making for the full exercise of their legal capacity and respect for their autonomy, will and personal preferences.
Specifically, the protocol is framed in Article 12 of the Convention, which recognizes the legal capacity of persons with disabilities, as well as in Article 13, which develops the section on access to justice.
