Abstract

Why devote a chapter to disability in a handbook on medical law and ethics? It is increasingly recognised that a disability, however defined, cannot automatically be equated with a medical condition, let alone a disease. Instead, a disability is an ‘infinitely but various feature of the universal condition’ (Bickenbach 1999: 112) that may arise from a health condition, age or an injury at a certain point in life and leads to long-term impairments. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) 2006 embraces the latter approach and serves as a comprehensive human rights instrument that establishes a wide array of rights for persons with disabilities that also impact medical law and ethics.