Alejandra Consuelo LEÓN RODRÍGUEZ

Director at Productivity Pact Program

I have been working with people with disabilities for 30 years and my commitment to them is to contribute to the defense of their rights. What motivated me to get involved with the labor inclusion of people with disabilities was to confirm, in the exercise of my profession, the lack of knowledge on this subject of the same professionals who work in professional rehabilitation processes, as well as the systematic violation of the labor rights of people with disabilities. Three milestones are what I highlight in my professional career: Design and implementation of the organizational strengthening program for the Associations of the Deaf in Colombia and the Associations of the Deafblind in Latin America. Design and start-up of the first Respite Center for Deaf People in Colombia. Management of the Productivity Pact Program, which built, in a participatory manner, the territorial model of labor inclusion for people with disabilities, a reference for the construction of the inclusive employment model for the vulnerable population of Colombia. The most important learning during my working life is that no one can determine what a person with a disability should be or do. Our role is only to contribute to guaranteeing them access to all the services to which any other citizen is entitled, of course under conditions of equity. From there, it will be the person with a disability, who autonomously, will decide his life project. Year of this biography: