C. Manifestations of discrimination

Persons with disabilities have long faced different forms of discrimination, but the hope is that the adoption of the Convention will reduce this discrimination worldwide.

Persons with disabilities have been considered abnormal beings, manifestations of evil or unnatural curiosities. They have been executed, segregated or forced to undergo medical experiments. They have been subjected to ridicule and cruel amusement and seen as bad omens. In many cases, they have been considered inferior beings equal only in the eyes of God and as such deserving sympathy and pity.

Discrimination evolves but does not necessarily decrease. In 2006, on the adoption of the Convention, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated:

Too often, those living with disabilities have been seen as objects of embarrassment, and at best, of condescending pity and charity. ... On paper, they have enjoyed the same rights as others; in real life, they have often been relegated to the margins and denied the opportunities that others take for granted.

Consider some examples:

The annihilation of the “unfit”: discrimination and the right to life. One of the most serious forms of discrimination on the basis of disability was perpetrated in the twentieth century during the Nazi regime. It targeted persons with mental and physical disabilities, like other groups considered inferior, and subjected them to annihilation, experimentation, sterilization and other brutalities. Sterilization and euthanasia programmes were carried out against the mentally or physically “unfit”. Individual cases were presented in front of public health officers, who decided whether or not to carry out forced sterilization. The Interior Ministry also required doctors and midwives to report all cases of newborns with severe disabilities. Children under the age of three with illnesses or disabilities such as Down's syndrome, hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy or “suspected idiocy” among others were targeted. Around 250,000 disabled people were killed and some 450,000 sterilized during this period.

Other States, too, adopted legislation and policies authorizing sterilization. Thousands of persons with disabilities were sterilized by force. Sterilization practices were based on eugenic theories, very popular at the beginning of the twentieth century, which promoted race quality control, reproduction of selected people and traits, and repression of undesired groups.

Denial of legal capacity: discrimination and equal recognition before the law. Legal systems around the world have considered disability as a lawful ground for not recognizing persons with intellectual, mental or sensory disabilities as persons before the law—and many still do. In practice this denies these persons a wide range of human rights such as the capacity to make decisions, sign contracts, vote, get married, inherit property, administer personal goods, defend rights in court or choose medical treatments.

Guardians sometimes fail to act in the interest of the persons with disabilities they are representing. They may even abuse their positions of authority and violate the rights of others. When legal capacity is lacking, forced medical interventions (drugs, surgery and sterilization) and medical experiments can be carried out without free and informed consent. Women and girls with intellectual disabilities, for example, are often subjected to forced sterilization.

Deprivation of liberty on the basis of disability. Disability has been considered as a lawful ground to deprive persons with disabilities of their liberty. By declaring that they may be dangerous to themselves or others or be in need of care, the State can commit them, sometimes for their entire lives. Laws and policies have been enacted on the assumption that persons with disabilities are better off in institutions. In other cases persons with disabilities are segregated from society and kept at home.

Disability and gender: multiple forms of discrimination. Men and women have different experiences of disability; women with disabilities can be discriminated against on two grounds: sex and disability. For instance, in rural areas women and girls with disabilities sometimes have very limited access to education at any level and few opportunities to earn a living. Schools, roads and transport are often inaccessible. Parents might therefore not be able to send children with disabilities to school. In addition, these barriers might be exacerbated by gender-based discrimination in communities where attitudes already discourage girls from going to school. The result can be high illiteracy among girls with disabilities and a missed childhood, since they have no interaction with other children in an educational environment.

Discrimination and the right to education. Children with disabilities have been excluded from education and may even be considered uneducable. Some have argued that people with certain disabilities (mental, learning and even physical) cannot be educated in mainstream schools. Often these decisions are taken without investing in experts or teachers able to support or ensure peer learning between children with and without disabilities. The result is that children with disabilities are put in special schools, where expectations for excellence are unsatisfactory. Given the prejudice that children with disabilities supposedly obstruct the education of other children, parents of children with disabilities may decide to put their children in special schools or keep them at home. If discrimination is pervasive, taking decisions that go against the overall discriminatory mentality can be seen as risky and ultimately detrimental to the child with disabilities. Yet, giving in only reinforces stigma and discrimination.

Specific cultural settings and stigma: discrimination and the right to cultural life. In some cultural settings, disability can be perceived as a punishment from God, the result of witchcraft or as a shameful failure on the part of the family. This can entail social disapproval, marginalization and even frustration leading to domestic violence. Persons with disabilities, including children, may decide to leave their communities and go to urban areas to gain some independence. However, they may end up begging or being exploited in other ways because they are illiterate or have few job opportunities. Those who cannot move freely may be hidden by their family members or live in the community in very precarious conditions.

In some rural villages in Haiti, parents giving birth to a child with mental or physical disabilities feel that they have been punished for a sin they committed. The implications are grave: the father may impregnate other women to show he was not responsible for the disability. The child may be kept at home, hidden from the rest of the community.

In Cambodia many children and adults have lost limbs in landmine explosions, mainly in rural areas. Having a disability is considered socially unfortunate and often forces persons to live on the margins of society. Even today persons with disabilities may be ignored by vendors in the marketplace and have to ask the assistance of someone else to get served.

Inaccessibility: discrimination and freedom of movement/independent living. Physical, informational and technological barriers prevent persons with disabilities from fully participating in society on an equal basis with others. Inaccessibility also relates to negative attitudes in society that perpetuate images of persons with disabilities as being slow, less intelligent or unable to make decisions, for example. A key element to ensure equal rights for persons with disabilities is improving the accessibility of the built environment, information and communications technology, transport and other facilities, goods and services open to the public.