Abstract
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is a modern human rights treaty with innovative components. It impacts on disability studies as well as human rights law. Two innovations are scrutinized in this article: the model of disability and the equality and discrimination concepts of the CRPD. It is argued that the CRPD manifests a shift from the medical model to the human rights model of disability. Six propositions are offered why and how the human rights model differs from the social model of disability. It is further maintained that the CRPD introduces a new definition of discrimination into international public law. The underlying equality concept can be categorized as transformative equality with both individual and group oriented components. The applied methodology of this research is legal doctrinal analysis and disability studies model analysis. The main finding is that the human rights model of disability improves the social model of disability. Three different models of disability can be attributed to different concepts of equality. The medical model corresponds with formal equality, while the social model with substantive equality and the human rights model can be linked with transformative equality.
Highlights
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) [1] of 2006 has had profound impact on disability law and human rights law globally
The CRPD was initially drafted as a human rights convention that replaces the medical model of disability with the social model of disability
The drafters went beyond the social model of disability and codified a treaty that is based on the human rights model of disability
Summary
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) [1] of 2006 has had profound impact on disability law and human rights law globally. According to Article 1 the purpose of the CRPD “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.”. Such an approach recognizes that disability is a social construct which is created when impairment interacts with societal barriers It is based on a new thinking about disability which is usually described as a paradigm shift from the medical to the social model of disability. State Parties have to establish a national human rights mechanism, the Convention allowed the EU to become a member as a regional integration organization, it has two standalone development provisions, but most significantly it modernizes international equality law I wish to demonstrate that the Convention introduces a new equality concept into international human rights law, which can be categorized as transformative equality
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
