A/HRC/32/33 equitable health outcomes for this population subgroup is particularly important. However, persons with disabilities are consistently less likely to engage in physical activity than others,64 and children living with disabilities have been identified as a group requiring particular attention.65 81. Encouragingly, sport and physical activity for people with disabilities has increasingly moved away from a “medical-therapeutic” focus on exercise as rehabilitation or treatment66 towards a more positive, inclusive paradigm incorporating human rights, where attention is focused on the ability and agency of people with disabilities, on better health, and on empowerment and the attainment of new skills.67 The increased participation of people living with disabilities also has wider societal benefits; it dismantles images of people with disabilities as being passive, inactive and unable to participate, and can potentially increase social cohesion and inclusion through the removal of negative stereotypes. 82. Although it is established in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that States should ensure that persons with disabilities have an opportunity to organize, develop and participate in disability-specific sporting and recreational activities, States are only obliged to encourage and promote the participation, to “the fullest extent possible”, of persons with disabilities in mainstream sporting activities. What “the fullest extent possible” means in the context of professional and amateur sport is debatable, and may need further attention. 83. To date, it seems that the appropriateness of participation in mainstream sport at the professional level has been determined on a case-by-case basis. For example, accommodations can be made for persons with disabilities to participate in sports such as golf, which do not alter the fundamental nature of the sport in question, and therefore should be undertaken to avoid discrimination. 68 In situations where accommodations cannot be made without fundamentally changing the nature of the sport, the question of participation of persons with disabilities remains uncertain, and should be further examined by international organizations in consultation with persons with disabilities, to assist States in promulgating relevant policies. 84. Regarding amateur sport, the physical accessibility of mainstream sporting facilities, goods and services should be ensured, for example through the incorporation of appropriate infrastructure in venues. However, physical access can equally be impeded through laws and policies. In particular, persons with psychosocial disabilities may face barriers in accessing what they are entitled to under the right to health, and must be given access to sporting facilities, goods and services without discrimination. This may not necessarily require investment in infrastructure; rather, a focus on developing acceptable services and sensitizing service providers may be required. 64 65 66 67 68 James Rimmer and Alexandre Marques, “Physical activity for people with disabilities”, The Lancet, vol. 380, No. 9838. WHO, Report of the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (2016). Ralph Richards, “Persons with disability and sport” (3 February 2016). Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group, “Sport and persons with disabilities”, in Harnessing the Power of Sport for Development and Peace: Recommendations to Governments (2008). See PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, 532 U.S. 661, 121 S. Ct 1879 (2001). 19