The Socialist Group in the Cabildo of Lanzarote will bring a motion to the next plenary session to denounce that Lanzarote remains the only island where the Canary Islands Health Service does not prescribe communication devices to people who cannot speak or communicate through conventional writing.
The councilor of the Socialist Group in the Cabildo, Paula Corujo, demands that the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands and the Canary Islands Health Service urgently implement a specific circuit in the Lanzarote Health Area for the assessment, prescription, and access to dynamic communicators, eye trackers, and other Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems, known as SAAC.
These resources allow people with great communication difficulties to express needs, pain, emotions, decisions, or thoughts. They can range from communication boards and pictograms to devices with voice output or eye trackers that allow a communicator to be operated with one's gaze.
Paula Corujo explains that "we are talking about something as basic as being able to say that something hurts, that you are afraid, that you need help, that you want to participate in a medical decision, or that you simply want to communicate with your family."
"Lanzarote cannot continue to condemn to silence people who have the right to communicate. Communication is autonomy, health, dignity, and participation," stated the socialist councilor.
The PSOE emphasizes that these systems may be necessary for people with cerebral palsy, Rett syndrome, autism spectrum disorders with complex communication needs, intellectual disabilities, rare diseases, or genetic syndromes that affect language and mobility, but they may also be required by people who have suffered a stroke, a traumatic brain injury, a brain injury due to lack of oxygen, acquired brain damage, aphasia, severe dysarthria, speech apraxia, or any situation that prevents them from communicating orally.
Corujo recalls that these systems have been part of the common portfolio of the National Health System since 2019, so their access must be guaranteed on equal terms regardless of the place of residence. However, to date, no prescription of a communicator or eye tracker has been completed in Lanzarote through the Canary Islands Health Service.
For Corujo, this situation “generates evident territorial inequality” and leaves many families unsure of which professional to turn to, what procedure to follow, or how to request an assessment.
“A person from Lanzarote has the same rights as a person from any other island. What is missing here is a clear, known, and operational circuit so that families do not have to wander from one consultation to another without getting a response,” she stated.
The socialist motion requests that the Doctor José Molina Orosa University Hospital have a reference team or professional to coordinate these procedures and that clear referral pathways be established.
Corujo insists that “many families do not even know that this right exists, and others know it, but cannot find a clear door to knock on.”
“What we are asking for is simple: that Lanzarote has the same right, the same access, and the same opportunities as the rest of the Canary Islands. No one should be left without a voice for living on this island,” concluded Paula Corujo.