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Experts denounce discrimination in the courts against victims of sexual violence with disabilities

They warn of the difficulties they are going through to prove their stories in the absence of alternative communication systems.

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Experts denounce discrimination in the courts against victims of sexual violence with disabilities

They warn of the difficulties they are going through to prove their stories in the absence of alternative communication systems

MADRID, 3 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Experts denounce that people with communication disabilities who suffer sexual violence in Spain are also victims of discrimination in the courts due to the lack of alternative and augmentative communication systems -such as pictograms or voice synthesizers- or due to the refusal to allow intervention of speech therapists that allow them to communicate better to be able to tell what happened.

"It cannot happen that a person has been attacked and cannot testify. It is a double crime," says Ana Vázquez, vice president of the General College of Speech Therapists in statements to Europa Press.

Vázquez indicates that in Spain there are thousands of people with communication disabilities who cannot testify before a judge because the Administration does not yet have the means to take their statement.

Given this scenario, he insists that access to Justice must be universal and that "it cannot be the case that, because there are people who do not have a way to express themselves orally, their story cannot be accessed."

Ángeles Blanco, a lawyer from the Spanish Confederation of Associations for the Care of People with Cerebral Palsy (Aspace), explains in statements to Europa Press the difficulties that people with disabilities go through to prove cases of sexual violence. "We are seeing a very serious violation and impunity," she points out.

The lawyer points out that, sometimes, they do not have a forensic report because the communication process of the victims to notify them of the attack usually takes place some time later, when biological evidence can no longer be collected.

It also adds that in some cases that have managed to prosecute and have come to trial, the judge on duty "has not admitted the appearance of the victim through alternative communication."

He points out that today, although sign language and the role of court facilitators are already recognized, "there is no recognition in procedural laws" of alternative communication systems in court.

In this sense, Blanco emphasizes that in Law 8/2021, which reforms civil and procedural legislation to support people with disabilities in the exercise of their legal capacity, "express mention" is not made of communication alternative --that which is necessary in cases where there is no verbal communication-- or augmentative --useful when a person has verbal communication but the entire speech is not understood-- in court.

In his opinion, this gap means that it is each judge who assesses whether or not these systems are allowed for the victim of sexual violence to appear. He emphasizes that although Law 6/2022 was approved this year, which regulates cognitive accessibility and includes alternative and augmentative communication, "the reality" is that they continue "facing this problem."

Blanco assures that "at each appearance" he has to "fight" for the courts to admit these augmentative and alternative communication systems. "We need legal certainty", he underlines while insisting that the intervention of the speech therapist must be admitted in court.

From Aspace they ask the prosecutor of the Coordinating Room of the specialized care services for people with disabilities and the Elderly, María José Segarra, to urge the prosecutors to allow alternative communication in court appearances.

Blanco assures that they maintain a "positive relationship" with the Public Ministry, but stresses that they need "one more step" so that the participation of speech therapists and augmentative and alternative communication systems are not left to the "sensitivity" of each prosecutor, but rather that all victims of sexual violence with disabilities have "all procedural guarantees".

According to Blanco, in Aspace -since May 2020, when they launched a complaint channel during the pandemic- they have recorded 54 cases of violence against women with cerebral palsy. Of those 54 cases, 36 are of sexual violence and 2 are of sexual exploitation. So far, they have managed to prosecute 15.

The vice president of the General College of Speech Therapists, Ana Vázquez, acknowledges the difficulty involved in dealing with this type of case because, as she emphasizes, "different people with the same pathology or disorder are not going to need the same method of communication."

In this sense, he points out that, for example, a person with the autism spectrum could testify in court through pictograms, but maybe another person with the same characteristic communicates better with real drawings or some other type of alternative communication.

In addition to the pictograms, Vázquez points out among the communication methods voice synthesizers, sign interpreters, or the complemented speech system (which allows people with hearing disabilities to communicate through the simultaneous use of lip reading and a series of manual plugins).

Despite the difficulties reported by the General College of Speech Therapists, Vázquez assures that progress has been made in recent years. "Ten years ago nobody thought that a speech therapist could do an expert opinion; today, yes," he points out.

Last year, Law 8/2021 came into force, reforming civil and procedural legislation to support people with disabilities in the exercise of their legal capacity. The text regulates the adaptations and adjustments in the procedures in which people with disabilities participate, "regardless of whether they do so as a party or as a different party and that will be carried out in all phases and procedural actions in which it is necessary , including acts of communication".

In addition, said law expressly mentions that "persons with disabilities, if they wish and at their own expense, will be allowed to use an expert professional who, as a facilitator, performs adaptation and adjustment tasks."

Ángeles Blanco, Aspace's lawyer, reproaches that the use of facilitators and speech therapists is at the expense of the victim. "Depending on the economic capacity of the person, it may or may not continue and that violates the right to effective judicial protection," she stresses. And she insists that in said text there is no "express mention" of alternative or augmentative communication.

Within the framework of the work carried out by the Colegio de Speech Therapists and Aspace to promote and guarantee the presence of the profession, a specific free training pilot project is being carried out so that speech therapists can be trained in the legal area for intervention in appearances before the courts.

They emphasize that just as the professionalism or competence of a foreign language interpreter or a sign language interpreter is no longer questioned in court, the speech therapist and alternative and augmentative communication systems are not questioned.