ACCESSIBILITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION IN FAVOR OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: reflections from international law

People with disabilities have historically been undervalued due to a flawed perception of difference. To address this issue, this work examines the principles of equality, non-discrimination, and accessibility in international law, in relation to the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), adopted in 2006. Two essential issues are covered, based on the justification and scope of the anti-discrimination principle. The first focuses on universal accessibility as a goal for the effective enjoyment and exercise of rights for people with disabilities within social spheres. The second addresses reasonable accommodations as necessary adaptations in specific situations and as a targeted accessibility strategy. Both mechanisms promote the removal of barriers and the creation of equal spaces without differential treatment in both the Inter-American Human Rights System and the European Union. The methodology used is primarily bibliographic, reviewing books, manuals, and scientific articles forming the doctrine on this subject, and also jurisprudential, examining cases from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. It is concluded that accessibility provides legal and material content to the principle of equality through strategies that approach disability from a social model, recognizing equal dignity and rights for all human lives.