Spanish Government submits a Royal Decree to guarantee cognitive accessibility

Spanish Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda has submitted to public hearing a draft Royal Decree to approve a Regulation that would regulate the basic conditions of cognitive accessibility.

The regulation has its origin in the second additional provision introduced in the amendment to the General Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Their Social Inclusion, approved in 2022. The text also tackles the regulation of the Spanish Centre for Cognitive Accessibility (CEACOG). 

This Royal Decree seeks to guarantee equal access and non-discrimination for all persons, especially those with difficulties in understanding and interacting due to an intellectual disability, brain damage, autism spectrum disorder, cognitive impairment or other situations. The Royal Board on Disability, through CEACOG, will create a technical and specialized working group with the aim of preparing, within one year of the publication of the regulation, a catalogue of symbols and pictograms for signage to be used in the areas to which this regulation applies. The law includes various obligations to improve cognitive accessibility. For example, the availability of information in Easy-to-read format and the use of augmentative and alternative systems in customer service, support staff in health centers and courts, easy-to-understand electoral programs and training in cognitive accessibility for company staff, among others.