The right of access to sport and recreation for disabled persons under international law: What does it really entail?

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRDP) sets out the right of access to sport and recreation for disabled persons. Even so, this was never articulated in a manner whereby access to sport (and by extension to recreation) is a justiciable right. The only obligation on States parties is to make sporting activities available, chiefly through the mobilization of accessibility and without discrimination. Such expressed equality is of little to no value. This is because States do not have an obligation, under available treaty and customary law, to avail non-disabled persons on their territory of a right to sport or recreation. As a result, the non-disabled population may engage in sporting activities at its own cost and at the discretion of the State, just as nondisabled persons. While this may seemingly satisfy equality requirements, many impairments require specific coaching or rehabilitation in order for disabled persons to exercise. Hence, whereas accessibility with respect to sporting activities may suffice for non-disabled persons, this is not the case for those disabled persons who require appropriate coaching, adaptations and rehabilitation, or where discrimination is intersectional.