A/HRC/40/32 and communications. All information and communications related to the provision of rehabilitation services and assistive devices must also be made accessible through the use of sign language, Braille, accessible electronic formats, alternative script, Easy Read formats and augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, including non-verbal communication. This includes awareness-raising campaigns and general information about available services, instructions and forms to request services, the websites of service providers, user manuals for assistive products, and communications between rehabilitation personnel and individual users. 47. Under articles 25 and 26 of the Convention, the need is emphasized for rehabilitation services to be provided as close as possible to people’s own communities, including in rural areas. In practice, however, rehabilitation services in communities are often scarce or unavailable, and where they do exist they tend to be concentrated in urban areas.32 Accessible transport must be guaranteed to bridge this gap. The pressing need to develop community-based rehabilitation services with equitable geographic coverage should be reflected in the allocation of financial resources, training programmes for rehabilitation professionals and labour policies (for example, creating additional incentives for rehabilitation professionals to stay in or relocate to rural or remote communities). Community-based inclusive development has proven a successful strategy for improving access to rehabilitation services and assistive products in low- and middle-income countries, including in rural communities. Community-based inclusive development fosters and relies on a participatory and inclusive approach to rehabilitation, in particular by promoting peer support. 48. States must be strategically committed to – and have a specific action plan for – deinstitutionalization, which must include the creation and expansion of adequate and appropriate community-based rehabilitation services. New investments in rehabilitation services should be channelled into the development of rehabilitation services that are human rights-based. The provision of high-quality community-based rehabilitation services and assistive products must also be recognized as one of the positive measures that States need to take in order to abolish these discriminatory practices. Those services should include interventions specifically designed to help individuals overcome the negative consequences of institutionalization, such as learned helplessness and psychological traumas caused by psychological, physical or sexual violence experienced within the institution. For instance, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, rehabilitation is integrated into deinstitutionalization programmes to prepare children and adults with disabilities for living in the community. 5. Participation 49. In accordance with article 4 (3) of the Convention, States must actively involve and closely consult organizations of persons with disabilities, including organizations representing children with disabilities, in the development and implementation of legislation, policies and other public measures. Participation by persons with disabilities, however, is not only a legal obligation but also a matter of good governance (A/HRC/31/62, paras. 25–33). It is an overarching principle whose application is not limited to legislative and policymaking processes but extends to all aspects of the planning, organization and delivery of rehabilitation services. 50. Persons with disabilities can provide crucial first-hand information about their rehabilitation requirements, the barriers that they face, their experience of rehabilitation services and the effectiveness of proposed solutions and suggest alternatives that work for them in their environment. Moreover, participation raises awareness about future and existing laws and policies within the disability community, enabling more people to benefit from them. Some States have established permanent mechanisms for involving persons with disabilities in policymaking. For example, the Danish Parliament set up a disability council that advises Parliament and other public bodies and monitors the implementation of 32 12 WHO, WHO Global Disability Action Plan 2014–2021: Better Health for All People with Disability (Geneva, 2015), para. 40.