The Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) will resolve the case of Elvia, a 10-year-old girl with a disability who sued her school in Yucatán for discrimination, for not adapting a room for her.
With three votes in favor and two against, the First Chamber of the Court decided to appeal the case, to determine whether the Yucatan authorities violated her rights or not.
The minor is a person of short stature with mobility difficulties. She lives with hypochondroplasia and genu varu: the bones of her body that should be long are short and thick, they also have fissures; she also has a deviation of the spine and hips and her legs are bowed.
According to Kalycho Escoffié, a human rights defender and who is also part of Elvia’s legal team, this case could set precedents in matters of disability and educational facilities, as it is also “the first time that the Supreme Court will analyze a case of discrimination towards a person of short stature ”, he pointed out.
In September 2019, Elvia filed an amparo lawsuit against the “Rodolfo Menéndez de la Peña” elementary school for refusing to move her group to the ground floor, because the doctors had told her that she should not climb stairs to avoid irreparable damage cheers.
Despite the requests of Elvia and her mother, the director of the School, Jorge Gamboa Escalante, as well as the staff of the Regular Education Support Service Unit (Usaer) refused to adopt adjustments, minimizing the situation and even limiting to offer to repeat a year that she had already completed to attend classes on the ground floor.
Upon admitting the claim, recorded in file 1305/2019, the fourth district judge in Yucatán ordered the “Rodolfo Menéndez de la Peña” Primary School to adopt “the pertinent measures for the health” of Elvia, and thus prevent that during the processing of the trial is more affected by going up and down the stairs.
The school received the notification in September 2019, just during a visit from Mayor Renán Becerra Concha, as this educational center is part of the safe schools program in which healthy coexistence, respect and values of civility are promoted among the students.
However, the Ministry of Education of the Government of the State of Yucatán refused to comply with the sentence and presented an appeal for review, arguing that Elvia had not been discriminated against and that ramps had been installed in the school.
“Elvia does not use a wheelchair so it is not related to her problem, and that does not change the fact that she has to climb several steps to get to her school,” said Ángeles Cruz Rosel, one of the lawyers in the case. “We cannot assume that all people with disabilities are the same and that only with ramps the problem is solved, since Elvia can walk carefully, but what she cannot is climb stairs.”
