LA EDIFICACIÓN DE USO RESIDENCIAL ANTE EL RETO DE LA PLENA INTEGRACIÓN DE LA DISCAPACIDAD (¿ACCESIBILIDAD ARQUITECTÓNICA O ALGO MÁS?).

Abstract

The year 2007 has been declared the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All, in a clear endeavour to sensitise public opinion to the benefits of a nonexclusive, fairer, more cohesive society. It is precisely these lines that this research paper explores in its examination of the reaction of immovable property, and more specifically residential building, to the fresh cry by European organisations for normalisation of the reality that disabled people experience day to day. Act 51/2003 of 2 December on Equal Opportunities, Non-discrimination and Universal Accessibility for Disabled Persons and its applicability through the 2004-2012 First National Plan on Accessibility are analysed. Then follows an exposition, from the standpoint of the most recent case law, of the main problems raised by the so-called elimination of architectural barriers in buildings under the special regimen of horizontal property. Lastly, attention is devoted to the exhortation to the States, inter alia Spain, by the General Assembly of the United Nations Organisation, for the prompt ratification of the new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, which have stood open for signing at United Nations Headquarters since 30 March 2007.