The Disability Convention: Purpose and Principles

In one line

Articles 1 to 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 state a purpose, define discrimination on the basis of disability to include the denial of reasonable accommodation, list eight general principles, impose general obligations, guarantee equality, name women and children with disabilities, require awareness-raising, and require accessibility.

Article 1: purpose, and a definition that is not one

The purpose is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.

Then the second paragraph: persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.

Three things about that sentence, and all three are examinable.

It says include, not means. The Convention deliberately refuses a closed definition, so that a State cannot exclude a condition by pointing to a list.

It names four kinds of impairment: physical, mental, intellectual and sensory, and the impairment must be long-term.

And the operative words are "in interaction with various barriers". The hindrance is not produced by the impairment alone. It is produced by the impairment meeting a barrier. That is the social model of disability written into the text of a treaty, and it is the single most important sentence in the instrument, because it makes the barrier, and therefore the State that maintains it, the object of the obligation.

Article 2: the definitions that matter

Discrimination on the basis of disability means any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability which has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. It includes all forms of discrimination, including denial of reasonable accommodation.

Reasonable accommodation means necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Universal design means the design of products, environments, programmes and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design, and it shall not exclude assistive devices where needed.

Communication includes languages, display of text, Braille, tactile communication, large print, accessible multimedia, plain-language, human-reader and augmentative and alternative modes; and language includes spoken and signed languages.