Inmaculada Placencia Porrero: EU Candidate to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Inmaculada Placencia Porrero, EU Candidate to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, speaks at an event as a person seated in a wheelchairs watches
It is a great honour to be nominated by the European Union as a candidate to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The EU is strongly committed to combatting discrimination of all kind, to remove barriers faced by persons with disabilities and to work to ensure the enjoyments of rights and opportunities so that everyone can fully participate in society on equal basis with others.
Message from Inmaculada Placencia Porrero
"Disability policies must be designed to benefit all of society but most of all to ensure that persons with disabilities have effective access to their rights and improve their socio-economic participation and situation.
I have over 30 years of expertise in the area of disability. Throughout those years I have worked passionately and constructively with organisations representing persons with disabilities, public administrations, experts, human rights defenders, and industry to advance the development of disability policy, legislation, action plans and strategies across the areas covered by the UNCRPD in the European Union and internationally.
I will strongly contribute to advancing the dialogues with State Parties in the area of accessibility and new technologies where solutions should be of a global nature, particularly in the area of ICT. I will also work on promoting independent living and access of persons with disabilities to services, education, and the labour.
The Committee will be enriched with expertise in terms of cooperation and join efforts among states, gained working within the only Regional Integration Organisation that is currently a party to the UNCRPD. Mutual learning among regions and countries is essential to advance the UNCRPD agenda."
- Inmaculada Placencia Porrero
Inmaculada Placencia Porrero shares her professional experience in the video below:
Inmaculada Placencia Porrero partage son expérience professionnelle dans cette vidéo.
Inmaculada Placencia Porrero comparte su experiencia profesional en este vídeo.
Career summary
Inmaculada Placencia Porrero is a Senior Expert on Disability at the European Commission, leading work on the rights of persons with disabilities, with a focus on accessibility and assistive technologies since 1991. Her mother tongue is Spanish. She also has a very good command of English and Dutch as well as a working knowledge of French. She coordinates the team responsible for the development and implementation of European policies for persons with disabilities. That includes the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in the EU through policies, legislation and standards as reflected in the EU’s disability strategies including the current Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030. This strategy addresses disability in all its diversity and covers all articles of the UNCRPD mainstreaming disability matters in relevant EU legislation and policies. It promotes the rights of persons with disabilities globally in order to continue to uphold the human rights of persons with disabilities and support their social inclusion in all international relations, not least as part of the EU’s external action, policy planning, funding programmes and other activities.
She has led the development of EU and international level accessibility policies and legislation, in particular in the digital area, including for example in the drafting, negotiation and implementation of the European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882) one of the world’s most advanced laws in the area of accessibility.
Her international experience includes cooperation, expert contribution and active participation in of the work of international organisations such as the UN, ITU, ILO, OECD and Council of Europe related to disability. In the context of accessibility, she also has cooperated with international standardisation organisations including W3C/WAI resulting in the use of comparable accessibility standards.
She has published and edited several articles and received awards for her work including the Discapnet Award, which is given to people, organisations, or companies for outstanding achievements in improving accessibility of technology.
In 2010, she had a leading role in the formal confirmation by the EU of the UNCRPD, through formal policy and legal documents, and negotiations with Member States. She led the preparation of the reports on the EU’s implementation of the UNCRPD, and participated in the EU dialogue with the UNCRPD Committee and as observer in the dialogues of two Member States.
Since 1991 she has been working together with civil society disability organisations from their early involvement in research and development projects, to policy discussions, events and initiatives such as the European day of persons with disabilities and the Access City Award, as well as international conferences and side events in the context of UNCRPD implementation. She has managed EU grants supporting EU level disability organisations. In addition, she has facilitated involvement of persons with disabilities in EU public consultations, promoting accessibility, including in the preparation of the disability strategy and the UNCRPD implementation report by the EU.
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