Accessibility is one of the eight principles that enable the rights affirmed in the CRPD to be interpreted. It affirms the right of personswith disabilities to enjoy “access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to informationand communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and servicesopen or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas”.22 Accessibility is a precondition of inclusion: in its absence, persons with disabilities cannot be included.
- Universal design is an approach that advocates that “the design of products, environments, programmes and services [should] be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design”.23 The principles of universal design facilitate accessibility, including for persons with disabilities.24
Assistive technology, devices and mobility aids are external products (devices, equipment, instruments, software), specially produced or generally available, that maintainor improve an individual's functioning and independence, participation, or overall well-being.25 They can also help prevent secondary impairments and health conditions. Examples of assistive devices and technologies includewheelchairs, prostheses, hearing aids, visual aids, and specialized computer software and hardware that improve mobility,hearing, vision, or the capacity to communicate.
Barriers are factors in a person's environment that hamper participation and create disability. For persons with disabilities, theylimit access to and inclusion in society. Barriers may be attitudinal, environmental or institutional.
- Attitudinal barriers are negative attitudes that may be rooted in cultural or religious beliefs, hatred, unequal distribution of power, discrimination, prejudice, ignorance, stigma and bias, among other reasons. Family members or people in the close network of persons with disabilities may also face ‘discrimination by association’. Attitudinal barriers are at the root of discrimination and exclusion.
- Environmental barriers include physical obstacles in the natural or built environment that “prevent access and affect opportunities for participation”,26 and inaccessible communication systems. The latter do not allow persons with disabilities to access information or knowledge and thereby restrict their opportunities to participate.27 Lack of services or problems with service delivery are also environmental barriers.28, 29
- Institutional barriers include laws, policies, strategies or institutionalized practices that discriminate against persons with disabilities or prevent them from participating in society.30
Barriers may be classified as a threat if they are put in place intentionally. They are described as a vulnerability if theiroccurrence is inadvertent. In both cases, barriers lead to exclusion, making it likely that persons with disabilities willface more or worse threats and vulnerabilities than others affected by a crisis.
Disability inclusion is achieved when persons with disabilities meaningfully participate in all their diversity, when their rights are promoted,and when disability-related concerns are addressed in compliance with the CRPD.31 It is related to the concept of ‘social inclusion’, which has been defined as “the process by which efforts are made to ensureequal opportunities – that everyone, regardless of their background, can achieve their full potential in life. Such effortsinclude policies and actions that promote equal access to (public) services as well as enable citizen's participation in thedecision-making processes that affect their lives.”32
Discrimination on the basis of disability refers to any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability that has the purpose or effect of impairingor nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of human rights and fundamental freedomsin the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. It includes all forms of discrimination, includingfailure to respond flexibly to reasonable demands (denial of reasonable accommodation).33
- Reasonable accommodation requires individuals and institutions to modify their procedures or services (accommodate), where this is necessary and appropriate, either to avoid imposing a disproportionate or undue burden on persons with disabilities or to enable them to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others.34
- Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination occur when a person experiences discrimination on two or more grounds at once. In such circumstances, the effects of discrimination are compounded or aggravated. For example, a woman with a disability may simultaneously experience discrimination because of her sex and because of her disability. ‘Intersectional discrimination’ occurs when multiple forms of discrimination interact together in a way that exposes the individual to unique forms of disadvantage and discrimination.
- Discrimination on the basis of disability can target persons who currently have an impairment, who had an impairment in the past, who have a predisposition to an impairment in the future, who are presumed to have an impairment, and to associates of a person with a disability. The latter is called discrimination by association.
Enablers are measures that remove barriers, or reduce their effects, and improve the resilience or protection of persons with disabilities.
Inclusive budgeting occurs when an organization, during its planning process, allocates funds to remove barriers and promote participation forpersons with disabilities, and to provide targeted activities for persons with disabilities. Inclusive budgets should includecosts for improving physical accessibility, providing reasonable accommodations, and providing specialized non-food items(NFIs), assistive devices, mobility equipment and accessible communications.35
Informed consent occurs when a person willingly agrees to do something or allow something (for example, a medical intervention, relocation,the communication of personal information, the transfer of case documents, etc.) based on full disclosure of the risks, benefits,alternatives and consequences of refusal. Persons with disabilities, particularly those with intellectual and psychosocialimpairments, are very often denied the right to express their consent. This is a violation of their rights under the CRPD.36
Children are entitled to be consulted and to give their informed consent to the degree that their evolving capacities enablethem to do so.
Intersectionality is an analytic framework that demonstrates how forms of oppression (such as racism, sexism, ableism) overlap, defining uniquesocial groups. An intersectional approach assumes that harms and violations associated with disability, race and ethnicity,gender, or other identities cannot be understood sufficiently by studying them separately. To see clearly how they affectaccess to resources or create risks for persons with disabilities, it is necessary to see how disability, age, gender andother factors interrelate and to evaluate their overall effect.37
Mainstreaming is the process of incorporating CRPD in protection principles, promoting the safety and dignity of persons with disabilities,and ensuring they have meaningful access to humanitarian support and can participate fully in humanitarian interventions.Mainstreaming does not focus on what is done, but on how it is done. Disability should be mainstreamed in all sectors andall phases of the humanitarian programme cycle.
Organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) should be rooted in and committed to the CRPD and should fully respect the principles and rights that it affirms. OPDs mustbe led, directed and governed by persons with disabilities. A clear majority of their memberships should be persons who havedisabilities.38
Persons with disabilities “include those who have long-term physical, mental,39 intellectual or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participationin society on an equal basis with others”.40
Resilience describes the ability of a system, a person, a community or a society to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transformand recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient way, including by preserving and restoring essential structuresand functions through risk management.