Patricia MORLA

In 1982, at the age of 18, I began participating in social activities during the Falklands War. In January 1983, I had my first contact with young people with disabilities at the Campo de Mayo Military Hospital (Buenos Aires), where war veterans with all kinds of injuries and severe mental health diagnoses were hospitalized. From that moment on, my work was to accompany young veterans in the city of Rosario, where I was living at the time, who needed not only social support but also emotional support. Later, in 1988, I ran a foster home for babies abandoned by their families who were in the process of being adopted, including some cases of malnourished babies who needed special care. Once in the city of Villa Carlos Paz, after working for various community associations, I began my political involvement, collaborating with Councilman Esteban Avilés, the current Mayor, focusing primarily on supporting families of people with disabilities who required care. From that moment on, I began training in the field to provide better service. In 2011, when our political group took office, I was appointed Director of Social Inclusion and Human Rights. The Municipal Disability Subdirectorate was created in 2014, where I dedicated myself exclusively to supporting and promoting the rights of people with disabilities and children with cancer.

In 2012, I was diagnosed with various conditions for which I was granted a disability certificate. From that moment on, I not only worked to promote rights, but also began my activism as a woman with a disability, which has made me understand the barriers from my own perspective. Although I currently hold another position in the Municipality, my main role in my daily and political life is to work to achieve accessible cities for all people equally, striving primarily in my city, as it is a purely tourist-oriented city, for inclusive and accessible communication and tourism, and where women with disabilities are taken into account in state policies.