This entity began under the name of CAPEDI, as a committee of parents and friends of people with disabilities in 1999, in the Municipality of Cubulco, Baja Verapaz, with a social projection and the desire to help people with disabilities improve their quality of life in the family, educational, labor, and social spheres, promoting and collaborating in the fulfillment of their social, economic, and cultural rights. It began its activities with fundraising to acquire resources to facilitate support for beneficiaries who required accompaniment in rehabilitation processes.
CAPEDI, as it was called at the time, was registered with the Departmental Governance in August 2000 as a support committee for people with disabilities; following its registration, it began to shape itself as an organization with a humanistic sense, supporting low-income people with disabilities in pursuit of development for this population.
In 2007, seeking to strengthen itself as a positioned and recognized institution, it was constituted as a non-profit civil association with legal entity, agreeing to establish itself as the Integral Development Association for People with Special Abilities (Asociación Integral de Desarrollo para Personas con Capacidades Especiales), under the acronym "AIDEPCE", which allowed it to begin executing its first internationally funded project.
During the time since its constitution as a non-profit, apolitical civil organization, the actions carried out have allowed it to achieve the following results:
In 2007, a census was conducted in 36 of the 222 communities currently comprising the Municipality of Cubulco, Department of Baja Verapaz, which allowed for the location and identification at that time of a total of 184 cases of children and adolescents with disabilities, due to various factors that affect disability (malnutrition, lack of medical assistance for women in the prenatal period, domestic violence, sexual orientation, poverty, and extreme poverty, among others).
Efforts for the creation of a special education center authorized by the Ministry of Education, in which AIDEPCE provides daily transportation services to approximately 20 students with disabilities each year.
Facilitating awareness and disability prevention workshops aimed at parents and youth in communities with the highest rates of population with disabilities, with the support of public and private entities providing health and social assistance services.
Through a diagnosis conducted by the Ministry of Education in the municipality regarding inclusive education, training workshops are provided for the care of students, whether associated with a disability or not, aimed at teachers working in regular education schools.
Due to the lack of professionals trained in special and inclusive education in the Department, AIDEPCE began coordinating the delivery of diploma courses in inclusive education, aimed at teachers working in regular education schools within the Department.
Through various efforts, projects have been obtained to equip physiotherapy rooms and construct the special education center, funded by universities in the country, along with the assignment of students in their Supervised Professional Practice (EPS) in physiotherapy for the care of children and adolescents with disabilities, granted by the national school of physiotherapy.
Funding was obtained to purchase a minibus vehicle for the daily transportation of students with disabilities attending the Special Education center, from their homes to the center and vice versa, as well as the transfer of beneficiaries to different healthcare centers for rehabilitation processes.
AIDEPCE, in coordination with other related entities, promoted the creation of a national network of civil society organizations of and for people with disabilities called RENADISGUA, from which projects were executed in different regions of Guatemala, focused on political advocacy and inclusive education through the alliance for inclusive education.
Through RENADISGUA, the bill "Comprehensive Care Law for People with Disabilities harmonized with the international convention" was presented to the health commission of the Congress of the Republic.
In 2019 and 2020, AIDEPCE served as the coordinating entity for the organizations associated with the Liliane Foundation of Guatemala, executing a project in six departments of Guatemala: Sololá, Jalapa, Chiquimula, Baja Verapaz, Sacatepéquez, and Quetzaltenango.
AIDEPCE is part of the Alliance for Inclusive Education in Guatemala (Alianza Por la Educación Inclusiva de Guatemala), a space that promotes education for people with disabilities; through this, projects with coverage in various regions of Guatemala were executed.
AIDEPCE is currently the coordinating entity of the Network of Organizations that Promote the Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Guatemala, called INCLUGUATE, bringing together six organizations with coverage in different regions of the country.