Persons with disabilities may face additional challenges in enjoying their health rights. The State must ensure that special support measures are in place to counter them.
What is disability?
The Disability Law defines ‘disability’ as:
“a long-term or non-transitional very severe, severe or moderate level functioning limitation which affects a person's mental or physical abilities, ability to work, self-care, and integration into society”.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities specifies that disability may take different forms – ‘physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments’.
Non-discrimination in health care
Persons with disabilities should be able to access health care without discrimination based on their disability or any other ground.
Accessibility and suitability of health care
Medical institutions should be accessible and suitable for persons with mobility difficulties – e.g., having a wheelchair ramp, spacious elevators, bathrooms suitable for persons in a wheelchair, etc.
Special support
In Latvia, persons with disabilities are:
- entitled to social rehabilitation to help them integrate into society
- entitled to psychosocial rehabilitation to help deal with the emotional side of disability
- entitled to vocational rehabilitation to acquire a new profession
Disability is a challenge for any person. Rehabilitation programmes should not only address the physical state of a disabled person but also support their mental state.
Foreseeable disability
In Latvia, the Medical Treatment Law indicates that one of the groups of people who have been given priority in the Latvian health care are persons with foreseeable disability.
A foreseeable disability is a functioning limitation caused by a disease or injury, which is likely to lead to disability if medical care is not provided. Persons with foreseeable disability receive an individual rehabilitation plan. If such a plan includes State-paid health care services, a person can receive them more rapidly (within a specified period).