At 45, Mar Galcerán became the first parliamentarian to be elected while carrying the genetic disease Down syndrome, according to the Spanish federation of people with Down syndrome. Member of Parliament from the community of Valencia since September 14 2023, the historic election has nevertheless gone unnoticed in the international press. But this week, the Guardian newspaper published an article in which it questions the politician. “It’s unprecedented,” the woman commented to the British newspaper. “Society is starting to see that people with this syndrome can contribute a lot. But the road is still very long,” she continued.
While she is “attached to tradition”, as Mar Galcerán explains to the daily newspaper, it was at the age of 18 that she entered politics, joining the conservative Spanish Popular Party (PP). . She worked for around 20 years as a civil servant in Valencia, where she contributed to the development of inclusive policy and spent four years at the head of Asindown, a Valencian organization that helps families whose children are affected by Down syndrome. Little by little, she climbed the party ladder and was added in May 2023 in 20th position on the list of PP candidates for the Valencia regional elections. Last September, Galcerán won a seat in the Valencian community parliament.
Following her election, many politicians, Spanish media and associations congratulated her. “Great news for politics, overcoming obstacles. Welcome to Mar,” wrote the leader of the PP of the region, Carlos Mazón, on the social network declared Agustín Matía Amor, Director General of the NGO Down España, an association which improves the integration of people with Down syndrome into society, to the Guardian newspaper. “It’s a good example of what can be done,” he continued.
Although Mar Galcerán was praised by some, the latter explained that she had also suffered criticism on the internet. “We find all kinds of them on social networks. There are people who support me. But there are also others who think that I am not capable. But these are people who don’t know me and who don’t know my origins,” she laments to the British newspaper.
The politician says she wants to be seen as a normal person and hopes her new role will end the many prejudices about people with Down syndrome. “I want people to see me as a person, not just for my disability,” she explained to the Guardian. Her role, she is well aware, involves great responsibility “I want to learn how to do it well, for the people of Valencia, and more importantly, for those of us who have different abilities,” she continued. on this same source.
Mar Galcerán is the first person with Down syndrome to be elected at such a level, that is to say to join a regional or national parliament. “This is a big step forward and an example of real inclusion,” Agustín Matía Amor, the leader of Down España, told the Guardian.
But Mar Galcerán is not the first to be elected in Europe. In Spain, in the city of Valladolid, Angela Bachiller, member of the Popular Party, was sworn in on July 29, 2013. She became the first municipal councilor with Down syndrome. In 2020, it was the Frenchwoman Éléonore Laloux, suffering from this same disease caused by an anomaly in the chromosomes, who became a municipal councilor in Arras.
These increasingly numerous elections of people with Down syndrome lead some to question the ability of these people to lead. But there are several levels of Down syndrome and some people have very low cognitive dissonance. “Down syndrome has physical and physiological consequences for those affected, which vary from one person to another. Among these consequences: a variable intellectual disability, often mild,” as explained on the Government website.
