A dependent woman cannot be attended in Catalan because the assistant assigned by the Government does not understand it

PalmaPlataforma per la Llengua has reported a violation of the right to be served in Catalan of a user of the Home Help Service (SAD) in Mallorca. The organization has provided legal advice to the beneficiary, who receives assistance from the company T'Ajuda, after she was assigned a professional who neither speaks nor understands Catalan. According to the organization, this situation makes it difficult for the user to express her needs normally and receive effective care in her own language.

The user requested on May 28th that she be assigned an assistant who could understand her in Catalan. The company replied that it could not guarantee a specific linguistic profile, since the assignment of personnel depends on the availability of professionals, the organization of the service, and care needs. According to Plataforma per la Llengua, the response was limited to indicating that they would take the request into account in future assignments, without specifying measures, deadlines, or alternatives to guarantee care in Catalan.

At the beginning of October, the situation remained unresolved, according to the entity. The service is provided five days a week, with a total of twenty hours per month, and includes essential personal care tasks, such as hygiene, mobilization, medication, feeding, and accompaniment.

Plataforma per la Llengua considers it especially serious that the language barrier affects intimate activities, such as personal hygiene, and warns that the lack of communication can compromise both effective care and the user's right to use Catalan.

Demands explanations from the Government

Given this situation, the entity has submitted a public information request for the Administration to clarify the conditions under which T'Ajuda provides the Home Help Service, whether linguistic requirements have been demanded of it, and what measures have been established to guarantee service in Catalan. It also requests information regarding the availability of professionals with knowledge of the language and the mechanisms for monitoring and controlling the service.

Furthermore, Plataforma per la Llengua has reported the incident to the Directorate General for Dependency Care and People with Disabilities of the Government of the Balearic Islands, which is responsible for supervising the provision. The entity demands that the conditions under which the service is offered be verified and that both the Administration and the company adopt the necessary measures so that users can be attended to by professionals who understand Catalan and can express themselves in it orally.

Complaint

Plataforma per la Llengua bases its complaint on the legal framework for the protection of Catalan as the own language of the Balearic Islands. Specifically, it recalls that Article 7.a of Law 4/2009, of June 11, on social services of the Balearic Islands, recognizes the right of the recipients to access the system under conditions of equality and without discrimination, among other reasons, due to language.

The organization also refers to articles 61 and 62 of the same law, which establish that the public system must have the necessary personnel, with the appropriate knowledge and skills to guarantee the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of the services. Likewise, it recalls that the Constitution, the Statute of Autonomy, and the Law on Linguistic Normalization establish measures for the protection and promotion of Catalan. For all these reasons, the entity demands that the Government and T'Ajuda guarantee the linguistic rights of the users of the Home Help Service and that they adopt measures so that situations like this do not happen again.