A group of advisory lawyers has achieved a court ruling ordering the Mexico City Collective Transportation System (STC) Metro to implement reasonable adjustments to allow people with disabilities to access facilities in an autonomous, safe, inclusive, equal, and non-discriminatory manner.
Judge Celina Angélica Quintero Rico, head of the Seventeenth District Court in Administrative Matters in Mexico City, issued the ruling. According to details shared with Aristegui Noticias by the plaintiffs, it is acknowledged that although the metro has elevators and escalators, these facilities often do not function, leaving people with reduced mobility without options for autonomous movement.
The ruling highlights that this situation constitutes a barrier to equal access to the most important mobility system in the city. Therefore, it has been ordered that Metro authorities immediately implement the necessary adjustments to guarantee such access on equal terms, through dialogue and negotiation with people with disabilities.
Among the ordered measures is the creation of a permanent universal accessibility program in the Metro facilities, designed to ensure that people with disabilities can use the system with the greatest possible autonomy. Additionally, proper monitoring is established to ensure the functioning of the infrastructure and to raise awareness among operational staff about the accessibility and mobility rights of people with disabilities.
Authorities have a period of fifteen business days to demonstrate before the Seventeenth District Court that they have complied with the requirements of the ruling. In case of non-compliance, they will be subject to the corresponding legal consequences, as provided in the Amparo Law.
The achievement of this ruling is due to an amparo filed by a group of four young lawyers recently graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. "We are very happy with this achievement because we believe that this is the best way to practice law: contributing to improving our society and highlighting problems that for many are invisible," they celebrated.
