A/HRC/40/32 11. Article 25 expressly guarantees health-related rehabilitation as an element of the right to health, requiring that States parties take all appropriate measures to ensure access for persons with disabilities to health services that are gender-sensitive, including healthrelated rehabilitation. Article 16 obliges States parties to promote the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities who become victims of exploitation, violence and abuse. Article 27 lists the promotion of vocational and professional rehabilitation as one of States parties’ positive obligations related to the right of persons with disabilities to work. In the context of the right to education, reference is made in article 24 (3) to measures to enable persons with disabilities to learn life and social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community, which could be considered habilitation and rehabilitation. Article 20 requires States parties to facilitate access to personal mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies, whereas the provision of a broader spectrum of assistive technology and devices is one of the general obligations under article 4. B. Forms of rehabilitation interventions 12. Rehabilitation involves a wide range of functional interventions, both medical and non-medical. For example, some people may need rehabilitation to learn or relearn skills such as coordinating leg movement to walk, learn new ways of performing tasks such as bathing and dressing, or learn how to communicate when their use of language has been affected. Rehabilitation is not only for persons with physical impairments. For instance, torture, sexual exploitation and trafficking survivors may be in need of psychosocial rehabilitation in the form of counselling, peer support and other measures. 13. Rehabilitation is an evolving concept and is interrelated with the enabling or restrictive conditions of the environment. Rehabilitation processes include measures with respect to the immediate environment of the person concerned, such as the provision of communication aids, accessible features in the person’s home environment (for example, installing a toilet handrail) or job accommodations (for example, having accessible software). 14. It may not always be evident to distinguish where rehabilitation ends and other forms of support begin. Differentiating them contributes to better policy programming and implementation. For example, a person may require in-home rehabilitation, including access to assistive devices and personal assistance to contribute to that process. At the same time, these services and goods may contribute to the person’s participation in society beyond the rehabilitation process and should also be available after the rehabilitation ends. 3 1. Health-related rehabilitation interventions 15. Health-related rehabilitation has been defined as a set of interventions designed to optimize functioning and reduce disability in individuals with health conditions in interaction with their environment.4 Rehabilitative interventions can be distinguished from other medical interventions insofar as rehabilitation is not aimed at curing or treating the underlying causes of a health condition or managing a disease process. 16. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that health-related rehabilitation services should be available in both community and hospital settings. 5 Evidence shows that rehabilitation outcomes are often better in home-based or community settings, and that rehabilitation provided at home is generally the preferred and more highly valued option for users.6 The presence of rehabilitation services in hospitals often means that interventions can start at the earliest stage possible, thus accelerating recovery and 3 4 5 6 See H.M. v. Sweden (CRPD/C/7/D/3/2011), paras. 8.8 and 8.9, on the breach between the provision of rehabilitation under article 26 and support under article 19 of the Convention. WHO, Rehabilitation in Health Systems (Geneva, 2017), p. 35. Ibid., pp. 17–18. Ibid, p. 17. 5