A/HRC/34/58 and the lack of support within the family put persons with disabilities at risk of neglect, violence and abuse. 22. States should therefore adopt and implement policies and programmes that enable persons with disabilities to obtain the support they need to participate in decisions affecting their lives and in the life of their communities. The protection and promotion of human rights of persons with disabilities should be at the centre of these policy efforts, rather than focusing on charitable and medical approaches. C. Rethinking care and assistance 23. For a long time, responses to the assistance needs of persons with disabilities have been framed in terms of care. While care as a concept can be understood and used in several ways, the disability community has historically been critical of the idea of “being cared for” and of the traditional role of caregivers. Service models of care have traditionally treated persons with disabilities as passive objects or recipients of care, or as a “burden” for family and society, rather than as active holders of rights. Whether in formal or informal settings, care services have traditionally regarded persons with disabilities as dependents, which in most cases has not enabled them to fully participate in decisions affecting their lives. 24. Care services also have a legacy of segregation and disempowerment of persons with disabilities. In fact, most services were built under the medical and assistentialist models, which prompted the confinement of persons with disabilities in institutions, leading to the loss of control of their lives and their ultimate objectification. Therefore, for many persons with disabilities the notion of care bears a heavy historical connotation associated with oppression and invalidation.8 25. The disability community has challenged the traditional concept of care on the basis of a social understanding of disability. The social model of disability draws attention to the interaction between an individual’s perceived or actual impairment — be it physical, sensory, mental or intellectual — and the disabling barriers that hinder people from participating in society. Therefore, it is critical to enable inclusive societies that support persons with disabilities to participate and have the freedom and opportunities to live lives they value. This means replacing the legacy of paternalism, dependency and stigma that exist behind traditional approaches to care with the concept of support as a State obligation arising from human rights, equality and social justice. 26. The philosophy of independent living, which outlines the need for persons with disabilities to have autonomous and independent lives, reinforces the notion of support. However, independence needs to be framed in a way that takes into account the interdependence of human experiences and accepts reliance on others as a fundamental aspect of that interdependence, thus moving away from narrow interpretations of independence that conflate it with self-sufficiency and self-reliance.9 In this regard, support must ensure that persons with disabilities are able to exercise choice and control over their own lives, irrespective of their physical, sensory, mental and intellectual impairments, and over their own views, rather than having to follow the views of those looking after their needs. 8 9 Teppo Kroger, “Care research and disability studies: nothing in common?”, Critical Social Policy, vol. 29, No. 3 (2009), pp. 398-420. Jenny Morris, “Impairment and disability: constructing an ethics of care that promotes human rights”, Hypatia, vol. 16, No. 4 (November 2001), pp. 1-16. 7