‘When you live the problem, it is different’: political representation of people with disabilities in Chile

This article analyzes the campaign experiences of eighteen candidates with disabilities in the 2021 Chilean Constitutional Convention election, facilitated by a mandatory candidate-list quota that operated alongside stronger inclusion mechanisms (gender parity and reserved seats for indigenous peoples) for other underrepresented groups. While the quota ensured inclusion in party lists, it failed to guarantee seats in the Convention, and only one candidate with a disability was elected. Drawing on semi-structured interviews analyzed thematically, the study explores candidates’ motivations for running, the barriers they confronted, and the strategies they deployed during the campaign. The central finding is the emergence of ‘experiential representation’: participants argued that the lived experience of disability grants unique, irreplaceable knowledge necessary for effective representation, particularly under conditions of constitutional refoundation. Although electoral success was limited, candidates’ participation carried strong symbolic value, while exposing how quota design unevenly opens political space across the heterogeneous disability community.