A/HRC/34/58
support as part of its policy direction. Its goal 4, Strengthen social protection, includes a
target on enhancing services and programmes, including for personal assistance and peer
counseling, that support persons with disabilities in living independently in the community.
31.
That the core international human rights treaties do not explicitly mention support
measures for persons with disabilities does not imply that the obligation did not exist prior
to the adoption of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Support is a
human rights obligation arising from various rights, including the right to an adequate
standard of living, the right to social protection, the right of everyone to the enjoyment of
the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the right to education. The
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in paragraph 33 of its general
comment No. 5 (1994) on persons with disabilities, recognized that support and an adequate
standard of living are interconnected and that the provision of necessary support services to
persons with disabilities, including assistive devices, increases their level of independence
in their daily living and to exercise their rights.
32.
Support can also be derived from the basic principles of human rights, such as
dignity, universality, individual autonomy, equality and non-discrimination, participation
and inclusion. The universal nature of human rights provides an obligation on States to
promote the full realization of rights for all people. Persons with disabilities should enjoy
all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others. Access to
adequate support is indeed a precondition for persons with disabilities to effective exercise
of their human rights on an equal basis with others and, therefore, to live with dignity and
autonomy in the community.
33.
The State obligation to ensure access to support to persons with disabilities must be
distinguished from the obligation to provide accessibility. While accessibility is an
obligation related to the physical environment, transportation, information and
communications — a requirement for barrier-free, inclusive societies — support is an
obligation linked to the individual. Instead of transforming the environment, the goal is to
assist the individual in a range of different activities, from communication to mobility.
Whereas the level of accessibility may increase or decrease the need for support, the two
are complementary obligations enabling persons with disabilities to live independently and
to participate fully in all aspects of life.
34.
Similarly, the right to reasonable accommodation is distinct from, although
complementary to, the obligation to provide support. States are required to make all
necessary and appropriate modifications or adjustments that do not impose a
disproportionate or undue burden to allow persons with disabilities to exercise their rights.
Such modifications or adjustments may include support measures tailored to the needs of an
individual in a particular case. However, the obligation to ensure access to support is not
limited by the qualification of disproportionate or undue burden.
B.
Support in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
35.
In the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities support is firmly
grounded in a complex substantive equality model introduced by the Convention. The
treaty underlines the importance of taking the diversity of the human experience into
account. The Convention underlines the importance of adopting all appropriate measures to
support the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in society on an equal
basis with others. Its rights-based approach also places persons with disabilities at the
centre of all decisions affecting them, including decisions about support and assistance.
36.
The Convention does not define support, but refers to it in several of its provisions.
According to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “support” is a broad
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