Convention of Rights 37: Postscript, human diversity and disability

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) has many important principles, the idea that disability is part of human diversity is of fundamental importance. Everyone should be aware of its importance to ensure every citizen gets their human rights.

That disability is fundamentally an aspect of human diversity is stated clearly in Article 3, d, in the General Principles of the CRPD. The principle is worded like this:

Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity.

In the social model of disability awareness of the barriers persons with disabilities (PWDs) face leads to a focus on the way society causes disability, the individual is lost. However with broad awareness of the barriers PWDs face in society it becomes easier to identify the human rights problems that need to be corrected. Addressing these problems the rights model of disability returns the focus to the human rights of PWDs.

That disability is a part of human diversity needs to be embraced. The workbook Human Rights: Yes! puts it like this:  

Disability as a natural part of human diversity: Everyone is different, whether that difference relates to colour, gender, ethnicity, size, shape, or other characteristics. A disability is no different. It may limit a person’s mobility or their ability to hear, see, taste, or smell. A psychosocial disability or intellectual disability may affect the way persons think, feel, or process information. Regardless of its characteristics, disability neither subtracts from nor adds to a person’s humanity, value, or rights. It is simply a feature of a person.

This principle is of importance to PWDs because when it is grasped the case for human rights is made clearly. The 2005 paper Disability as Diversity: A Difference with a Difference states the case clearly:

Disability is an inescapable element of human experience. Although it is rarely acknowledged as such, it is also a fundamental aspect of human diversity. It is so, first, in the sense that, world-wide, an enormous number of people are disabled. (The proportion of people who are disabled in different national populations varies significantly with economic development, health care, and other factors, of course, but in the United States, at least, people with disabilities make up the population’s largest minority.) Furthermore, because of the way this minority is constituted, it is arguably more heterogeneous than those of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. Disabilities may affect one’s senses or one’s mobility; they may be static or progressive, congenital or acquired, formal (affecting the shape of the body) or functional, visible or invisible.

This principle is of fundamental importance to everyone, disabled and non disabled. Article 8, of the CRPD on Awareness Raising makes it clear that it is the duty of the state to educate everyone in this fundamental principle. It says, awareness raising measures should include things like maintaining awareness of the public through campaigns that are designed:

2, a, ii: To promote positive perceptions and greater social awareness towards persons with disabilities.

Disability as part of human diversity and humanity.

 The 2017 book The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A commentary describes the function of awareness raising that governments should be doing in the following way:

“Positive perceptions and greater social awareness” are key factors in helping people with disabilities lead fulfilling lives in a society that recognises their value and the richness of human diversity. However, mere “awareness” is not enough. Awareness should lead to “understanding” and “acceptance” in order to achieve an inclusive society, respectful of human diversity. In order to achieve this objective, awareness should not be linked to a “deficit model” of disability, i.e. implying that the person has a deficit that must be corrected but be linked instead to the recognition of the strengths, skills and inherent value of disabled people, and to the understanding that each individual is a subject with rights.

Disability is indeed a part of human diversity, it is of fundamental importance to everyone. Everyone should clearly understand that disability is a part of human diversity. Armed with this knowledge it becomes easier to acknowledge disability rights which are everyone's rights and especially the human rights of all PWDs.