Mar Galcerán has spent her entire life hearing what she could not do.
At 45, this woman from the El Cabanyal neighborhood of Valencia, Spain, has been a member of the Partido Popular since she was 18. She worked for more than two decades as a civil servant dedicated to the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities, always one rung below the position she deserved. In May 2023, her party included her on its list of candidates for the Corts Valencianes. They won. In January 2024, she was sworn in as a member of parliament, becoming the first person with Down syndrome to sit in a Spanish parliament — and, according to Down España, the first to reach a regional or national legislature anywhere in Europe.
Before her, Ángela Bachiller had already become the country’s first councilor with Down syndrome, in Valladolid, in 2013, but only after her predecessor resigned over corruption. Galcerán was clear about it: she does not want to be seen for her disability, but for what she can contribute. The question left hanging in the air is why she had to become a historic exception for someone like her to have the place society had owed her for so long.
