Article 25 says:
- Disabled people have the right to enjoy the best possible health.
- Disabled people have the right to the same range, quality and standard of free and affordable healthcare as everyone else – including sexual health and fertility services.
- Governments should ensure healthcare professionals are trained to provide an equal service, on a human rights basis. This includes making sure that disabled people have access to information about treatment so that they know what treatment they are agreeing to.
- Governments should provide the health services and treatment disabled people need for their specific impairments, including services that help people regain their independence after they have developed an impairment. They should ensure impairments and health conditions are identified early and that people get early support. These services need to be close to where people live – including in rural areas.
- Governments should take steps to make sure health and life insurance policies do not discriminate against disabled people.
What does this mean?
This is not a right to be healthy but a right to conditions which enable best possible health and healthcare. It could mean, for instance, that disabled people have a right to continuity of care and treatment wherever they are in Britain.
You could use the Convention to argue that this means that treatment can only be given, or withdrawn, after full information about the treatment has been given and with permission of the disabled person.
It could also be used to mean that disabled people have the right to information about and access to contraception, whilst Article 23 (Respect for home and the family) makes it clear that disabled people should not be forced to use contraception.