Statement Rehabilitation International.
Mr Chair,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Rehabilitation International is a global advocate for rehabilitation, inclusion and human rights for persons with disabilities. Highlights of the more than 100 years of RI’s history are the promotion of the UN-CRPD and to develop the global symbol for accessibility – the so-called wheelchair logo.
20 years after the adoption of the UN-CRPD by the UN General Assembly, it can be concluded that many things have changed towards rights of persons with disabilities in many life areas. However, persons with disabilities are in many cases still excluded and even discriminated.
Just two examples:
1) Inclusive concepts for education often end after finishing school. Access to universities and other higher education institutions in many countries are still restricted and of the concepts of universal design are not existing or implemented.
2) Health equity for persons with disabilities in not realized. One most relevant factors is the lack of training of health professional in providing adequate diagnosis and treatment, i.e. in common chronic conditions. This, together with a number of other factors, leads to lower average health status and even a lower mean life expectancy.
On the other hand, new challenges emerge, such as the use of social media and artificial intelligence tools. This opens a number of highly relevant opportunities for persons with disabilities, in particular on people with sensory impairments, learning difficulties and persons living in social isolation. On the other side, both tools have an inherent risk of supporting main stream exclusive narratives and opinions. There is an urgent need to analyze such mechanisms and to develop strategies on regulations that end discrimination and violence in social media as
well as to make sure, that the so-called large language models make sure that diversity, anti-discrimination and fake information are effectively prevented.
These examples show that after the broad acceptance of the CRPD across the world, a stronger effort on implementation has to be taken. Furthermore, it is extremely important to apply the principles of the CRPD to evolving developments, in particular to the digital transformations of our societies.
New York, June 9-11, 2026
Prof Christoph Gutenbrunner
Rehabilitation International President
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