Interview with Luis Fernando Astorga: Bringing Costa Rica to Disability World
By Rosangela Berman-Bieler, IID (iid@iidisability.org)
Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens is one of the new reporters for Disability World. A Costa Rican journalist, 49, Luis Fernando started his advocacy for human rights during the 80's. After a car accident led to a leg amputation, he became an important leader of the disability rights movement in his country, culminating recently in the creation of the Costa Rican Forum for the Human Rights of People with Disabilities.
During his recent visit to the Inter-American Institute on Disability (IID), in Washington, DC, Luis Fernando gave us the following interview:
IID: Tell us who you are and what is your personal story.
LF: I start by telling you a little bit of my life. Since very young, I felt attracted to the social battle to construct a better society based on justice and on the deepening of democracy in my country. As a consequence, I lived with much intensity during the 70's. I actively participated in the students' movement, particularly during my years at the University of Costa Rica. In this context, 22 years old, I met my first wife, Ruth Carrera, and we had three daughters: Laura, 26, Tonia, 22 and Amanda, 20. Life took us apart some years later. In 1986, I had a car accident and my life changed radically.
IID: What happened then?
LF: When I had my accident, I was the guardian of my three daughters. I was in a very critical health condition but was totally conscious. My main preoccupation was how to continue care for my daughters and this brought me inspiration and a very strong desire to survive. It took me two years of rehabilitation. And from the first moment I was able to sit in my wheelchair, I was convinced that to live was the most important thing and that I could continue producing and constructing with strength and optimism.
IID: How did the accident impact your life?
LF: Obviously, it generated a big change in my life, particularly in my mobility, since Costa Rica is a very inaccessible country. But the desire to live gave me the impetus to start reconstructing my environment, including my own house, to adapt it to my new situation. Some time later, I returned to work and, in the beginning of the 90's, I met Madeline Matarrita, to whom I got married. We just had our third child, Camila, born in October 1st. The oldest child is Daniela, 10, and Luis Fernando, 6.
IID: In which context did you join with the human rights movement in your country?
LF: Central America, as we can recall, underwent a hard armed conflict that generated in some of the countries in the region, serious, systematic and repeated violations of human rights. My political background as well as my solidarity with the Central American people took me to work with the Commission for the Defense of the Human Rights in Central America (CODEHUCA). This is a non-governmental organization for the defense and promotion of human rights with its headquarters located in Costa Rica and member organizations spread out in the entire Central American region, including Belize and Panama. In CODEHUCA, during 10 years (89-98), I worked as the editor of publications and later on, as the Coordinator of the Promotion of Human Rights.
IID: How did you get involved with the disability movement?
LF: While working in CODEHUCA, I've always had in mind the situation of people with disabilities. Although the topic was not an active part of CODEHUCA's agenda, I constantly wrote and published articles on disability rights on our publications. In 1998, I left CODEHUCA and, with other persons of the disability community, we started the "Fundación Sín Barreras" (Barrier-Free Foundation) for the improvement of the quality of life for people with disabilities. I was elected president and since then, I started to focus my advocacy activities on human rights and disability issues, exclusively.
IID: We have been reading about the intense activities of the disability movement in Costa Rica though your recent articles in Disability World. What exactly is the Costa Rican Forum for the Human Rights of People with Disabilities?
LF: The Forum emerged in December 2000, in response to a need for a unified initiative where organizations and individuals from the disability community could join together their common views and aspirations. The Forum is a dynamic, open and informal organization that promotes the defense of human rights and the full participation of people with disability, through thinking, advocacy and action. The logo of the Forum is composed of bamboos and a rising sun. As per its definition, the bamboo symbolizes unity, strength and flexibility. As it is known, this plant grows in large groups, never isolated or alone. Also, bamboo is a strong plant (as the struggle by disabled people has to be). Simultaneously, it is as flexible as all joint, broad and inclusive efforts must be.
IID: What kind of concrete action has the Forum developed?
LF: On December 1st, 2000, the Forum was launched through a demonstration in front of the Justice Court of Costa Rica demanding accessible transportation, based on our law 7600, for equal opportunities for people with disabilities. As a follow up of this first action, the Forum planned its activities for 2001, including a seminar on human rights, a workshop on advocacy, a seminar on children's rights to rehabilitation and some other similar event.
IID: We followed up with interest the great impact of the March recently organized by the Forum...
LF: Yes, the main activity, in celebration of the 5th anniversary of the Law 7600, was the March for Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities, where nearly 1500 persons marched for their rights. The Law is from May 1996 and five years later enforcement is still mostly nonexistent. There have been gains. But they have lacked depth. They are reversible and have not any impact upon the lives of 400,000 people with disabilities. As the Ombudsman of Civil Rights says, we are still the most excluded population in the country. What became the official slogan for the March was: "If Costa Rica is not accessible, democracy is impossible". (For more information on the March, see http://www.disabilityworld.org/03-04_01/spanish/noticias/foro.shtml)
IID: Are you involved with any other disability initiatives?
LF: I'm on the board of the National Rehabilitation and Special Education Council, representing organizations of persons with disabilities. This is the government body for implementation and enforcement of the Law 7600. I'm also on the board of the National Patronage of Blind Persons, representing the Ministry of Labor.
IID: Than, you are also involved with employment issues...
LF: In November 1999, I joined the Ministry of Labor as an adviser on disability issues. My main task has been to define strategies of employment promotion. As part of this effort, in 2001 the Ministry officially created the Disability Unit, to undertake this task from now on, as a permanent part of the structure of the agency. Right now, I'm serving as the director of the Unit.
IID: With such an active and dynamic life, what are your plans for the future?
LF: I intend to continue engaging and contributing to the development of the social movement for the improvement of lives of disabled people, not only in Costa Rica, but on the regional and international levels. Right now, I'm collaborating with the Inter-American Institute on Disability for the creation of an Inter-American Forum for Inclusion and Human Rights for People with Disabilities. We are also working for the ratification and enforcement of the Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination based on Disability. We are engaged in strategizing for a Latin-American campaign for an International Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities.
IID: As a new reporter for Disability World, what are your goals?
LF: To inform about the conditions and the situation of disabled people in Costa Rica and Central America, from a perspective, not only of a journalist, but also as a protagonist in our struggle for a better life. To understand this effort, the statement by Nobel Prize for Economy, Amartya Sen, is as just as inspirational: "Development means to build people's capabilities so they can attain the freedom to build a dignified life."
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