7 - Reasonable Accommodation

Summary

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the first international human rights convention to explicitly hold that the failure to provide reasonable accommodation amounts to an act of discrimination. Arguably, the inclusion of the duty to accommodate is one of the more important features of the CRPD, as it provides a legal tool to assist in the enforcement of equality provisions both in the public and private sphere. Moreover, the duty to accommodate is situated within the CRPD articles of general application thus ensuring that the duty to accommodate is explicitly linked to the realization of all human rights – including the right to education. Additionally, the right to education contains two additional references to reasonable accommodation and the duty to accommodate learners with disabilities, suggesting it is particularly important in the education context. This chapter explores the duty to provide reasonable accommodation in the context of inclusive education.