2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE EIGHTEEN - Education (§§ 1 — 3510-3520) › PART III - Educational Activities Generally (§§ 861-866 — 1597b) › Chapter 87A - Integral Educational Services for Persons with Disabilities (§§ 1351 — 1359) › § 1353 - Rights and responsibilities

(a) Rights of persons with disabilities. — All persons with disabilities shall have the right to:
(1) Be effectively guaranteed equal rights to those of the persons without disabilities.
(2) Be represented before the pertinent agencies and forums by their parents so that they may defend their rights and interests.
(3) Receive protection against negligence, abuse, prejudice, abuse or carelessness by their parents, teachers and the community in general.
(4) Receive in the least restrictive placement, free, special and proper public education, according to their individual and language needs.
(5) Be evaluated and diagnosed promptly by a multidisciplinary team, which takes into consideration their capacity for functioning and their needs, so that they can receive the educational and related services indispensable for their education according to the individualized educational program in order for them to achieve optimum development of their potential.
(6) Receive the integrated services that respond to their particular and language needs and to have the quality and effectiveness thereof evaluated frequently.
(7) Participate, when pertinent, in the design of the Individualized Educational Program (PEI, Spanish acronym), and in the decision making stage of the transition processes.
(8) Participate in real work environment experiences, to the extent allowed by their condition, in order to explore their capacity to be trained and to develop professionally or occupationally.
(9) Have their files kept confidential.
(10) Have their parents or themselves request the removal from the files those documents which may be detrimental to them, according to the established regulations.
(11) Have the decisions made based on their best interests.
(b) Responsibilities and rights of the parents of persons with disabilities. — The rights and obligations of parents with regard to their children, as established in the Civil Code of Puerto Rico, shall not be limited by the rights and obligations established hereinbelow:
(1) Parents shall be responsible for:
(A) Attending and caring for their children with disabilities and satisfying their basic needs for food, shelter, personal care and hygiene in the soundest environment possible.
(B) Learning about the laws related to minors with disabilities, what services are available and the management techniques thereof.
(C) Learning about the services that concerned agencies may offer their children.
(D) Participating in the development process of the educational services programs for persons with disabilities.
(E) Procure and collaborate so that the persons with disabilities may receive the prescribed educational services and treatment.
(F) Caring for and preserving the equipment provided by the agencies in good conditions and complying with the provisions of the corresponding regulations.
(2) The parents shall be entitled to:
(A) Request and receive counseling from each pertinent agency on the provisions of state and federal laws related to the condition of the person with disabilities and the processes of identification, evaluation and design of the individualized services program or planning, their placement and the due process of law.
(B) Request on behalf of the person with disabilities, the services available from the various government agencies for which he/she is eligible.
(C) Have access to the records, evaluations and other documents related to their children with disabilities, according to the established norms. Provided, That said documents shall be digitized and may be accessed through electronic means with safeguards as necessary to ensure confidentiality as set forth in this chapter.
(D) File complaints to request a mediation meeting or an administrative hearing, in case the person with disabilities is not receiving the proper education, in the least restrictive environment and in accordance to the arrangements for services contained in the PISF, PEI or PIER, as the case may be.
(E) Have the decisions regarding the identification, evaluation, placement and intervention that affects the person with disabilities made at all times with their approval and consent, unless these respond to a court decision.
(F) Have any objection on their part considered diligently at the corresponding level, including those cases whose particular circumstances merit determinations at state level or in the pertinent forum.
History —June 7, 1996, No. 51, § 4; Mar. 18, 2008, No. 30, § 2.