in English - Handicap International

We are here to serve
everyone.
- If a deaf person visits a public office and cannot carry out the business that
he or she came to do because the functionary in charge cannot communicate
with them (since they cannot speak in sign language) and cannot in
some way work out this problem with communication, this signifies a violation
of the deaf person’s rights. This is because the deaf person is not receiving the
same service as a hearing person; in other words, the deaf person is receiving
discriminatory treatment. In this case, the rights being violated are, first of all,
the freedom to seek, receive and impart information, and secondly the right
to freedom of expression. The ability of public servants to communicate in sign
language, or to use an alternative means of communication to resolve a deaf
person’s need for information and communication, are the means that guarantee
the exercise of the above-mentioned rights.
5. The interdependence of rights of people with disabilities
When speaking in general about civil and political rights, or about economic,
social and cultural rights, many authors insist that the interdependence of these
groups of rights is key to their enjoyment and exercise. Such a conception
commits the State to immediately guaranteeing the first group of rights, and to
make greater efforts to guarantee the second group.
Nonetheless, this interdependence takes on an even greater importance
when we refer to the rights of people with disabilities, since their civil and political
rights (immediate, as indicated) cannot be insured unless adequate conditions
are created through actions that are linked to insuring their economic
and social rights.
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