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While some EU member states have successfully removed the hindrances that stop disabled people from participating fully in the labour market and society at large, this still poses a challenge for other countries. FRA examines where legal and social barriers exist, and identifies the good practices some states have introduced that empower people with disabilities. Initial work has focused on the difficulties people with intellectual disabilities or mental health problems face. Future work will investigate the situation of children with disabilities and work to develop disability indicators.
The values of dignity, autonomy, equality and inclusion are key EU principles. With the UN’s most recent human rights treaty, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the core concepts of self-determination, participation and inclusion have been expressly linked to people with disabilities, namely "those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others".
The EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights prohibits discrimination on the ground of disability and recognises the right of disabled people to integration.
Background
The FRA's disability work is framed by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): the Convention takes a rights-based approach to disability.
The Convention recognises that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. Therefore society has an obligation to adapt to facilitate the full participation of people with disabilities. People with disabilities are "individuals" with rights, not objects of charity.
The convention was written with and by people with disabilities, in line with the disability movement's slogan: "Nothing about us without us". This philosophy guides the FRA's work related to disability rights.
How the FRA supports disability rights
The FRA carries out legal and social research and analysis of key fundamental rights issues. The legal research compares the EU’s legal provisions and measures. Social research can be either quantitative or qualitative. For example, for the project on the rights of people with intellectual disabilities and people with mental health problems, the FRA conducted in-depth interviews with people with disabilities and also asked then to document their everyday lives through "photo voice". Learn more about photo voice.
Such research can also involve discussions in focus groups bringing together people with disabilities and those who form an important part of their lives, such as carers, personal assistants and service providers.
For more on FRA's work on disability rights contact: disability@fra.europa.eu
The FRA's partners working on disability rights
The FRA works with many partners including representative organisations of persons with disabilities. Below is the list of some of the main organisations and institutions with whom the FRA regularly cooperates.
- High Level Group on Disability (on invitation)
- European Parliament Inter-group on Disability
- Ad Hoc Expert Group on the transition from Institutional to Community-Based care
- Committee of Experts on the participation of people with disabilities in political and public life (CAHPAH-PPL)
- OHCHR
- CoE Human Rights Commissioner
- EU National Human Rights Institutions
- European Network of Equality Bodies (EQUINET)
- European Disability Forum (EDF).
Research & projects
Has your country ratified the CRPD?
The UN convention has now been signed by 154 countries worldwide, and ratified (made legally binding) by 126.
90 countries have signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention, and 76 have ratified it.
The following 24 EU Member States have ratified the CRPD:
- Austria (ratified 2008, including the Optional Protocol)
- Belgium (ratified 2009, including the Optional Protocol)
- Bulgaria (ratified 2012)
- Cyprus (ratified 2011, including the Optional Protocol)
- Czech Republic (ratified 2009)
- Denmark (ratified 2009)
- Estonia (ratified 2012, including the Optional Protocol)
- France (ratified 2010, including the Optional Protocol)
- Germany (ratified 2009, including the Optional Protocol)
- Greece (ratified 2012, including the Optional Protocol)
- Hungary (ratified 2007, including the Optional Protocol)
- Italy (ratified 2009, including the Optional Protocol)
- Latvia (ratified 2010, including the Optional Protocol)
- Lithuania (ratified 2010, including the Optional Protocol)
- Luxembourg (ratified 2011, including the Optional Protocol)
- Malta (ratified 2012, including the Optional Protocol)
- Poland (ratified 2012)
- Portugal (ratified 2009, including the Optional Protocol)
- Romania (ratified 2011)
- Slovakia (ratified 2010, including the Optional Protocol)
- Slovenia (ratified 2008, including the Optional Protocol)
- Spain (ratified 2007, including the Optional Protocol)
- Sweden (ratified 2008, including the Optional Protocol)
- United Kingdom (ratified 2009, including the Optional Protocol)
The EU also formally acceded to the Convention on 23 December 2010, the first legally binding international human rights instrument to which the EU is party.
See the United Nations map of ratifications.
Key texts and policy documents
Below are some of the key legal instruments and policy documents in the area of disability in the European Union.
- United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
- Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
- European Convention on Human Rights
- European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe
- European Pact for Mental Health and Well-being
- Council of Europe Action Plan to promote the rights and full participation of people with disabilities in society 2006-2015
- The United Nations Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities
- World Health Organization (WHO) Mental Health Declaration for Europe
































