Fernando Camacho Servin
La Jornada Newspaper
Monday, February 9, 2026, p. 8
In the public discussion about President Claudia Sheinbaum’s electoral reform initiative, the issue of how to make it easier for people with disabilities to vote and be voted for has been absent, despite the fact that this aspect does not imply a large budget burden, said lawyer and blind activist Ernesto Rosas Barrientos.
In interview with The Daythe director of liaison of the Mexican Confederation of Organizations in favor of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (Confe), pointed out that although more than 7 percent of Mexico’s population lives with some physical or intellectual limitation –8.8 million, according to official data from 2023–, there are practically no projects to improve or encourage their political participation.
After highlighting that there is no accurate information about the content of the presidential initiative, Rosas indicated that “we are really worried, because in the last electoral process, that of the Judiciary, there was an enormous setback in terms of participation measures for people with disabilities,” since there were no braille masks for the visually impaired nor was it guaranteed that the boxes would be located in accessible places.
Although he admits that the limitations in said elections were due to a drop in the budget of the National Electoral Institute, the lawyer lamented that “we are once again those from whom opportunities can be taken away from other sectors. When it comes to cuts, unfortunately they say ‘let’s take away the disability sector and then we’ll see how we explain it to them.'”
The electoral spaces that have been conquered through the figure of “affirmative actions” are still very small, he said, and he questioned the lack of sufficient information in campaigns so that people with disabilities can know what the candidates’ proposals are.
“We are a significant number of voters with disabilities and we need the same treatment and the same opportunities to vote and be voted for,” he stressed.
