Memories of resistance. The people with physical disability movement in the late francoism and the Spanish democratic transition

Abstract

This article’s objective is to analyse the birth and development of the People with Physical Disabilities Movement in late Francoist Spain and the democratic transition. To that end, this work is based on qualitative research, based on 12 in-depth interviews, carried out with people with innate or acquired physical disabilities, from different regions of Spain, and born between 1938 and 1960. The participants selected for this work have been especially involved in the People with Physical Disabilities Movement in Spain since the sixties and seventies until today, from a total of 26 informants sources. These testimonies, always used anonymously, will be completed with reference works on the issues discussed, as well as other primary sources.

Points of interest

• This article analyses the birth of the Movement of People with Physical Disabilities in Spain during the late Francoism and the transition to democracy, from the 1960s to the early 1980s.

• This article delves into the life stories of 26 individuals with physical disabilities born between 1938 and 1960.

• Together with other social movements, people with physical disabilities were able to coordinate themselves in the late Francoism in order to create a new social movement to improve their living conditions.

• By giving voice to its protagonists and their experiences, the research seeks to understand more profoundly the basis and the ­development of the Movement of People with Physical Disabilities in Spain.

Keywords:

• Disability rights movement
• resistance
• memory
• qualitative research
• late Francoism
• Spanish democratic transition

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)