Exploring the link between (in)accessibility and disability discrimination in legislation and case law

Persons with disabilities face many challenges to accessing their rights on an equal basis with others. Prominent amongst those challenges are disability discrimination, which can take a variety of forms, and lack of accessibility to the physical and digital environment, as well as goods and services, amongst others. While the obligation not to discriminate on the basis of disability and the obligation to provide accessibility are two distinct duties, they are nevertheless connected. Where a building is inaccessible, for example because the only entrance is up some steps which a person who uses a wheelchair cannot climb, this can be regarded as a form of disability discrimination. This is because it results in a disadvantage that impacts directly on a person with a disability (direct discrimination) or because it is a seemingly neutral situation that is more likely to adversely affect some persons with disabilities (indirect discrimination). A lack of accessibility can also result in the need to provide a person with a disability with an individualised reasonable accommodation, meaning an accommodation or adaption to meet their particular needs. The accommodation will then enable them to access a particular location, carry out a certain task or use specific goods or services. In the given example, this could involve installing a ramp so that the individual could enter the building, or providing the individual with the relevant services at another accessible location. This article explores accessibility in the context of disability discrimination, and in particular the link between a lack of accessibility, including lack of compliance with legislation or standards establishing accessibility requirements, and disability discrimination. The article begins by defining some key concepts, and discussing non-discrimination and accessibility in the context of EU law, including in the context of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The article then discusses a number of dimensions to the link between disability discrimination and inaccessibility in Austria, Bulgaria, Finland and Ireland. These countries have been selected for analysis because this issue has been explicitly addressed, in one or more ways, in national legislation and/or case law, and their approaches reveal a variety of ways in which the two concepts are linked, and show how a lack of accessibility can result in disability discrimination.