With the tenth anniversary of the seminal Ruiz Zambrano judgment looming, there is scantly a better time to reassess its legacy and reflect on how its doctrine can be brought forward to foster the protection of fundamental rights in the European Union (EU). This article looks back at the reasons that make this decision a landmark in EU law, and discusses the potential for an expansive reading of the Ruiz Zambrano doctrine. It analyses to what extent the doctrine’s scope can be extended to subjects other than minors within the specific context of derived residence rights for third country nationals. On the whole, this article argues in favour of the expansive application of this doctrine by looking at a case study: that of persons with disabilities. In testing the potential application of the Ruiz Zambrano doctrine to protect the genuine enjoyment of rights that the status of EU citizens confers upon persons with disabilities, the article problematizes the idea of ‘dependency’. While this concept might be perceived as problematic from a disability perspective, the article reconciles this apparent tension by applying the concept of ‘empowering dependency’. The article concludes by highlighting the constitutional spill-over that a broader application of the Ruiz Zambrano doctrine may bring.