The Right to Health

Persons with disabilities experience disease and illness in the same way that other people do. They can be in good health or poor health, just like anyone else.

Some persons with disabilities may be more vulnerable to communicable illnesses, such as influenza, and it is certainly true that some disabilities have the potential to create health problems, known as “secondary conditions.” Common examples of secondary conditions include, for example, pressure sores and respiratory distress in persons with mobility impairments.

It is also true that some health problems can cause permanent disabilities and/or create temporary disabling conditions.

In other words, a disability can be both a cause and an effect of a health problem, or a disability can be present in a completely healthy person.

According to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD):

1. States shall provide persons with disabilities with the same range, quality and standard of free or affordable health care and programs as provided to other persons, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health and population-based public health programs;
2. States shall provide those health services needed by persons with disabilities specifically because of their disabilities, including early identification and intervention as appropriate, and services designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities, including among children and older persons;
3. States shall provide these health services as close as possible to people’s own communities, including in rural areas;
4. States shall require health professionals to provide care of the same quality to persons with disabilities as to others, including on the basis of free and informed consent by, among other things, raising awareness of the human rights, dignity, autonomy and needs of persons with disabilities through training and the promotion of ethical standards for public and private health care;
5. States shall prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in the provision of health insurance, and life insurance where such insurance is permitted by national law, which shall be provided in a fair and reasonable manner; and
6. States shall prevent discriminatory denial of health care or health services or food and fluids on the basis of disability.