Ecuador’s wheelchair revolution
February 5, 2013 06:01
Ecuador’s wheelchair revolution
South America isn’t known for being accessible for the disabled. If Ecuador’s vice president has his way, that’s about to change.
QUITO, Ecuador — Like many upper-class Ecuadoreans, Lenin Moreno rarely noticed people with disabilities. A successful businessman and politician, he was too busy being an overachiever.
All that changed in 1998. After buying bread at a Quito grocery store, Moreno was approached by gunmen in the parking lot. Even though he gave up his wallet and keys, the carjackers shot him in the back, leaving Moreno paraplegic.
Now, a dapper Moreno, 59, is sitting in a wheelchair at the colonial Carondelet presidential palace in Quito as newly arrived foreign dignitaries present him their credentials. Moreno was elected vice president in 2006. But, last month, he became acting president when President Rafael Correa took a leave of absence to campaign for re-election in Ecuador’s Feb. 17 vote.
That makes Moreno the world’s highest-ranking government official in a wheelchair. By nearly all accounts, he has used his power wisely. A fierce advocate for people with mental and physical disabilities, Moreno has helped turn Ecuador into one of Latin America’s most advanced countries for disabled people.
More:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/130204/ecuador-vice-president-lenin-moreno-south-america-disabilities
