Disability Rights
How the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities shifted from a medical model to a human rights framework for disability.
From Charity to Rights
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), adopted in 2006, represents one of the most fundamental paradigm shifts in international human rights law. Before the CRPD, disability was primarily understood through a medical model: people with disabilities were seen as patients to be treated or objects of charity. The CRPD reframes disability as a human rights issue, recognizing that the barriers people face are created by society, not by their impairments.
This is called the social model of disability. A wheelchair user is not disabled by the inability to walk; they are disabled by a building that lacks a ramp. A deaf person is not disabled by the inability to hear; they are disabled by a society that fails to provide sign language interpretation. The CRPD requires states to remove these barriers and ensure that persons with disabilities can participate fully in all aspects of life on an equal basis with others.
