CRPD/C/GC/2
40.
Health care and social protection would remain unattainable for persons with
disabilities without access to the premises where those services are provided. Even if the
buildings where the health-care and social protection services are provided are themselves
accessible, without accessible transportation, persons with disabilities are unable to travel to
the places where the services are being provided. All information and communication
pertaining to the provision of health care should be accessible through sign language,
Braille, accessible electronic formats, alternative script, and augmentative and alternative
modes, means and formats of communication. It is especially important to take into account
the gender dimension of accessibility when providing health care, particularly reproductive
health care for women and girls with disabilities, including gynaecological and obstetric
services.
41.
Persons with disabilities cannot effectively enjoy their work and employment rights,
as described in article 27 of the Convention, if the workplace itself is not accessible.
Workplaces therefore have to be accessible, as is explicitly indicated in article 9,
paragraph 1 (a). A refusal to adapt the workplace constitutes a prohibited act of disabilitybased discrimination. Besides the physical accessibility of the workplace, persons with
disabilities need accessible transport and support services to get to their workplaces. All
information pertaining to work, advertisements of job offers, selection processes and
communication at the workplace that is part of the work process must be accessible through
sign language, Braille, accessible electronic formats, alternative script, and augmentative
and alternative modes, means and formats of communication. All trade union and labour
rights must also be accessible, as must training opportunities and job qualifications. For
example, foreign language or computer courses for employees and trainees must be
conducted in an accessible environment in accessible forms, modes, means and formats.
42.
Article 28 of the Convention addresses an adequate standard of living and social
protection for persons with disabilities. States parties should take the necessary measures to
ensure that both mainstream and disability-specific social protection measures and services
are provided in an accessible manner, in accessible buildings, and that all information and
communication pertaining to them is accessible through sign language, Braille, accessible
electronic formats, alternative script, and augmentative and alternative modes, means and
formats of communication. Social housing programmes should offer housing that is, inter
alia, accessible for persons with disabilities and the elderly.
43.
Article 29 of the Convention guarantees persons with disabilities the right to
participate in political and public life, and to take part in running public affairs. Persons
with disabilities would be unable to exercise those rights equally and effectively if States
parties failed to ensure that voting procedures, facilities and materials were appropriate,
accessible and easy to understand and use. It is also important that political meetings and
materials used and produced by political parties or individual candidates participating in
public elections are accessible. If not, persons with disabilities are deprived of their right to
participate in the political process in an equal manner. Persons with disabilities who are
elected to public office must have equal opportunities to carry out their mandate in a fully
accessible manner.
44.
Everyone has the right to enjoy the arts, take part in sports and go to hotels,
restaurants and bars. However, wheelchair users cannot go to a concert if there are only
stairs in the concert hall. Blind persons cannot enjoy a painting if there is no description of
it they can hear in the gallery. Hard of hearing persons cannot enjoy a film if there are no
subtitles. Deaf persons cannot enjoy a theatrical play if there is no sign language
interpretation. Persons with intellectual disabilities cannot enjoy a book if there is no easyto-read version or a version in augmentative and alternative modes. Article 30 of the
Convention requires that States parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to
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