Based on this situation, it is easy to maintain that People with Disabilities' Organizations, in the best of cases, still are in the transition process from the 'assistance' or 'relief model' to the self-sufficiency model. In terms of presenting legislative proposals, organizations have advanced very little in the field of training people with disabilities. Costa Rican society in general and, specifically the people with disabilities movement do not still understand such concepts as 'diversity'. There also are other groups of people with disabilities that usually become invisible to society as those in jail, and the refugees. We should neither forget the ethnic groups or those who have chosen different sexual options.
History indicates that power has been controlled by men.
Many of these conditions are socially imposed, a fact that results in an even more reduced participation. Although the organized movement should represent and empower all individuals, women with disabilities have less opportunities to participate and achieve changes. Even in these conditions, women are starting to organize themselves at a national, regional and international level. Even though we have been working since Lizzie Mamvura, the Zimbawan born activist with disabilities visited us in 1993, this organization was founded in 1995. It was the first organization to break away from the traditional model used in the country until then, where people organized around the medical model, e.g. around a specific disability.