Learning feeds local activism
Barrantes recalled taking an independent living course in Japan in 2009 with Luis Cambronero Fallas. She said exchanges with activists in other countries strengthened her own work. She credited Japanese technical and financial cooperation with supporting Morpho’s campaign for the autonomy law, including personal assistance and changes to guardianship. [1]
Disabled-led organisations teach alongside officials
CONAPDIS’s account of its 2023–2025 regional training lists Morpho, Kadota, ADEINVI and Rivas Quetzal among participating civil society organisations. The course combined online sessions with a week in Costa Rica. Its materials explain personal assistance as support directed by the disabled person, respecting individual decisions, preferences and daily activities.
Lessons travel to Peru
Georgina Luz Valentín Rojas, a technical specialist in Peru’s health ministry, described joining the 2025 course. In a JICA interview, she said seeing independent living in practice offered lessons for officials designing personal assistance services that give disabled people freedom to choose and decide. [3]