Right to accessibility

This is the right that people with disabilities have to use and understand all the goods and services around them, as well as move freely in public and private spaces. It is also the right to exercise active citizenship and to enjoy all aspects of the society to which they belong, regardless of their physical, sensory, cognitive, or psychosocial condition.

The Preamble of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes as a principal ‘the importance of accessibility to the physical, social, economic and cultural environment, to health and education and to information and communication, in enabling persons with disabilities to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms’ (United Nations, 2006). However, the legal dimension of accessibility as a right is not fully recognised in legal instruments.

It is true that progress has been made with national equality and non-discrimination laws by recognizing that denying accessibility leads to discrimination and is therefore detrimental to the exercise of other rights. Nevertheless, we still need to consider on a global scale the right to accessibility as part of fundamental human rights.

Many organizations and people with disabilities believe we must demand universal accessibility as a fundamental right because of the multiple barriers created by an inaccessible environment.