- How To
- Healthcare
- People With Disabilities
People With Disabilities
- Moving
- Housing
- Working
- Money
- Family
- Healthcare
- Transport
-
Lifestyle
- Food & Drink
- Sports & Leisure
-
Local Tourism
- Tourist Offices
- Places of Interest
- Museums & Monuments
- Visiting Arroyo de la Miel
- Visiting Benalmádena
- Visiting Cabopino
- Visiting Cadiz
- Visiting Calahonda
- Visiting Estepona
- Visiting Fuengirola
- Visiting La Cala de Mijas
- Visiting Málaga
- Visiting Marbella
- Visiting Nerja
- Visiting Puerto Banús
- Visiting Rincón
- Visiting San Pedro
- Visiting Torremolinos
- Visiting Vélez-Málaga
- Holiday Accommodation
- Entertainment
- Shopping
- Useful Contacts

Overview of the facilities, organisations and support available for people with mobility, sight or hearing impairments in Spain...
Information
for people with disabilities and application forms for the Disabled Person's
Card are available from the local Town Hall (ayuntamiento).
Note:
You must be a Spanish resident to qualify for the card.
Most
larger towns have suppliers of mobility aids and other equipment for the
disabled, which can be bought or rented: wheelchairs (silla de ruedas),
mini-lifts, mobility scooters, walkers and general orthopaedic equipment. Ask
at an English-speaking pharmacy or look in the Páginas Amarillas (Spanish
yellow pages) under the heading "discapacitado"
or "minusválido".
Town
Halls do make sure that most beaches have areas adapted for the disabled. Some
beaches are equipped with wheelchair accessible board walks and toilets.
Spanish Associations for the Disabled and
Mobility Reduced
- Organización
Nacional de Discapacitados (National Organisation for the
Disabled)
- APSA: Asociaciones
de Discapacitados (Disabled Association)
- COCEMFE: Association
for the disabled for their integration in the work place
- ONCE Spanish
organisation for the blind (website in English)
- CERMI - Spanish
Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities. Umbrella
organisation representing the interests of people with disabilities in
Spain
- Fundación ONCE – job training integration and employment programs for persons with disabilities
Spanish International Airports
The
European Parliament passed a regulation which will facilitate air flights for
people with reduced mobility, aimed to be put into practice in 2008. Under EU
regulations people with reduced mobility are entitled to free, special
assistance when needed in airplanes, airports, baggage check in and with flight
connections.
Responsibility
has been passed to the airports to accommodate the needs of the disabled
traveller. Air companies will still be at liberty to provide services to people
with reduced mobility.
Vehicles
adapted with ramps are available from local companies for transport to and from
international airports.
nidirect provides
further information about airport and airline services for people with
disabilities within the EU.
Parking
Cars
parked in disabled spaces must display the disabled sticker or blue badge in
the window. A Spanish resident may request a disabled sticker and information
on applying for a blue badge from their local Town Hall.
The
blue badge is a standardised European Community disabled person's parking
permit, which provides parking entitlements to badge holders in all complying
European countries: a blue badge from one country is valid in another. A person
coming to Spain from another EU country can apply in their home country for this
universal badge, which allows the use of reserved parking under the following
regulations:
- Disabled
spaces in car parks reserved for disabled people are marked with a
wheelchair symbol
- Do not park if
the space is marked with a vehicle registration number
- Some car parks
allow vehicles displaying a disabled parking sign to park free of charge
- There are no
concessions for disabled drivers on roadside parking
Drivers
with a blue badge from another European country may display this Spanish
translation beside a badge written in another language (text from the UK
Automobile Association):
Tarjeta de aparcamiento para minusválidos. La persona que muestra esta tarjeta de aparcamiento es un visitante minusválido procedente de otro pais europeo, y tiene derecho a los mismos privilegios de aparcamiento que un minusválido residente en su pais. Modelo de la Comunidad Europea |
Other Spanish Organisations
- Alzheimer’s Association Help for
people affected by Alzheimer Tel:
948 174 517
- Fasocide: Spanish
Federation of Associations of the Deaf and Blind Tel: 915 217
904
- DISCAPNET: Portal for
people with disabilities
- Spanish Deaf Federation Tel: 913 565 832
Other associations
Calibre Audio Books: UK
charity Calibre supplies audio books in English on cassette or disk to visually
impaired and disabled people. The free service is available to members
(registration can be made via the website). Free postal service is available to
anywhere in Europe.
·
Calibre
Tel:
+44 1296 432339
Fax:
+44 1296 392599
email
Article includes contribution by Anette Kelf of Jacks Lifts Tel: 965 831 021 / e-mail Copyright © 2006 All Rights Reserved (updated 2020)