A/HRC/33/56 44. Pratima Gurung, from the Nepal Indigenous Disabled Association, discussed the situation of indigenous persons with disabilities from a grassroots perspective. She highlighted several challenges, including: the fact that the diversity of their identities, as indigenous, disabled, women, created specific needs; discrimination and exclusion by States and non-State actors; the need for greater recognition of their collective and individual rights and for environmental problems to be addressed, such as natural disasters. Recommendations to the indigenous-specific mechanisms included: ensuring the participation and representation of indigenous persons with disabilities in their deliberations; taking effective measures to ensure greater awareness of the applicable international legal framework at the national level; follow-up in future sessions of the Expert Mechanism and conducting a study specifically on indigenous women with disabilities. 45. The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples provided an analysis of the nexus, similarities and differences between the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She proposed measures to ensure cultural sensitivities were respected. She also called for disability to be embraced as part of human diversity. Finally, she called on indigenous persons with disabilities to effectively utilize the International Labour Organization Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 46. Doreen Demas, an advocate for the rights of indigenous persons with disabilities from Canada, provided three specific recommendations to advance the realization of the spirit of ideal of “leave no one behind” under the Sustainable Development Goals. The first recommendation was that all indigenous-specific mechanisms take all measures possible to ensure accessibility to all indigenous persons with disabilities, including: the provision of alternate document formatting for written materials, such as in Braille, large print, and accessible Microsoft Word or PDF formats, as well as plain language documentation; sign language interpretation for the deaf and FM loop systems for people who were hard of hearing; and ensuring that the physical premises were barrier-free. She further recommended that the Expert Mechanism undertake a specific study in relation to the rights of indigenous persons with disabilities, with the full participation of indigenous persons with disabilities. Lastly, she recommended that, in the appointment of members of the Expert Mechanism, consideration be given to ensuring that indigenous persons with disabilities were represented, in a manner similar to consideration given to regional and gender representation. 47. Indigenous peoples’ organizations indicated that there was a significantly higher rate of disability among indigenous peoples and communities caused by multiple factors, including colonization. Indigenous persons with disability experienced multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, such as stigmatization and marginalization, violence, lack of access to appropriate health care, vulnerability due to migration and the prevalence of the harmful practice of institutionalization. The situation was particularly dire in developing countries and countries impacted by armed conflict and militarization. Nevertheless, indigenous persons with disabilities in developed countries also experienced marginalization and significant levels of risk. 48. The particular vulnerabilities of women and children with disabilities was discussed, with Ms. Devandas Aguilar noting the higher prevalence of gender-based violence and sexual assault and the lack of remedies and protection from such violence. Indigenous peoples’ representatives submitted that indigenous children with disability were being removed from their families and communities, in violation of individual and collective 12