Later this year, the first international human rights treaty of the 21st century will celebrate its 20th anniversary. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 13, 2006, marked a watershed moment for the global disability rights movement. The CRPD was innovative both for its unique disability-specific protections (for example, its novel conception of a right to live independently and be included in the community) and also for the ways it advanced the field of international human rights law more generally (consider that the CRPD was the first treaty to describe states’ obligations in the internet age).
Over nearly two decades since its adoption, much has changed. The CRPD has catalyzed a surge in national disability rights laws around the world and generated greater visibility of persons with disabilities in laws, policies, and programs that affect them. Across much of the globe, the world’s largest minority now enjoys more robust legal protections and more inclusive policies and programs than ever before. One area where the CRPD’s influence has been felt is information and communication technologies (ICT). The CRPD’s drafters were keenly aware of the digital divide experienced by persons with disabilities encountering all-too-common accessibility barriers across websites, apps, and online platforms.
To help remove these barriers, the CRPD contains numerous provisions designed to promote inclusive ICT—the first time a human rights treaty engaged with this realm. Article 9 frames accessibility a precondition for guaranteeing equality and non-discrimination, and it expressly calls on states to promote persons with disabilities’ access to ICT. Article 9(2)(h) also specifically calls on states to head off accessibility barriers by promoting the design, development, production and distribution of accessible information and communications technologies and systems at an early stage. More broadly, the CRPD charges states with promoting universally designed products and services, as a way to spur new approaches in design thinking to drive frictionless adaptations for disabled users and preclude the need for later, expensive, retrofitting. Last, reflecting an awareness of the privatized nature of many digital environments, Article 21(c) calls on states to urge private actors specifically “to provide information and services in accessible and usable formats for persons with disabilities,” such as targeted training programs, technical support programs, and incentives for the private sector.
The rise of the DisabilityTech sector demonstrates the limits of such classical human rights conceits. Driven in part by the irrepressible entrepreneurial spirit instilled in many persons with disabilities, who must devise micro innovations to overcome barriers in their daily environments, as well as by pent-up demand given how underserved the disability community is by mainstream businesses and service providers, more and more start-ups are stepping up to the plate to deliver market solutions to age old disability inclusion problems. DisabilityTech firms are leveraging smart devices, artificial intelligence, and other technological advances to empower individuals with disabilities to access live captioning on their personal devices, inspect sidewalks to identify access barriers, and navigate labyrinthine benefits eligibility processes.
These and other private sector innovations have the potential to advance core aims of the CRPD in areas that governments have struggled in. That’s why last month, under the auspices of the United Nations’ 19th annual Conference of States Parties to the CRPD (COSP19), the Harvard Law School Project on Disability (HPOD) and the Zero Project brought together DisabilityTech entrepreneurs, investors, and change-makers to discuss the sector’s potential to transform how governments approach their CRPD obligations. At this side event, hosted by the Austrian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, and co-sponsored by the missions of Mexico, Peru, and Sri Lanka, the discussion pointed to the possibility that governments more proactively engage with and invest in the DisabilityTech sector. After all, assistive tech companies yield nine times return on every $1 invested. If governments were to better understand the value that DisabilityTech innovators are creating not just for rights-holders but also for duty-bearers, they might more fully incorporate public-private partnerships into their national disability strategies.
While governments must take all appropriate measures to eliminate disability-based discrimination by private enterprises, as CRPD Article 4(1)(e) pellucidly requires, they would be remiss in not harnessing innovations that could advance their obligations across the spectrum of rights recognized by the CRPD. Put more simply, the rise of the DisabilityTech sector means that for governments looking to tackle any number of disability human rights challenges, there’s probably an app for that (and a startup looking for funding). To illustrate:
- Looking to make public transit and public spaces more accessible to and safer for hard-of-hearing individuals to comply with Article 9? Consider Visualfy, a startup offering AI-powered products to convert sounds like fire alarms into visual alerts that has received funding from Spain’s national state-owned railway to install hardware in train stations throughout the country.
- Hope to make mobility breakthroughs for power wheelchair users to hit targets under Article 20? Look no further than munevo DRIVE, which has developed medical-grade smart glasses that translate users’ head movements into commands that power the wheelchair.
- Eager for strategies to improve health and therapeutic outcomes under Articles 25 and 26 by helping providers serving autistic or deafblind persons to overcome communication barriers? Think HapWare, which offers wearable assistive tech devices that can help professionals understand nonverbal social communication with real-time nonverbal cue identification and haptic feedback.
- Exploring ways to promote a more inclusive workforce and lift disability employment numbers to advance Article 27 implementation? Disclo’s patented software helps to streamline workplace accommodation requests, ensuring more efficient, accurate, and compliant handling of requests for employees and job-seekers.
- What about promoting inclusive product design across the board and driving greater accessibility across physical and digital environments? Invest in Fable, a startup providing on-demand access to skilled testers with various disabilities, who can evaluate prototypes or mockups within 48 hours.
- Having a hard time keeping pace with DisabilityTech innovations? Turns out that there’s an app for that, too. Brittany and Rich Palmer of Adaptation Ventures developed an AI-powered tool Ability Lane designed to fill this gap.
Some governments are already investing in DisabilityTech as part of their CRPD implementation strategies. Canada offers a blueprint for building the infrastructure of ecosystems designed to stimulate DisabilityTech innovations. For instance, the Canadian government offers non-dilutive funding, tax incentives, and other enabling programs for DisabilityTech and other startups. At Toronto Tech Week in May, Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation announced new investments in 13 business building AI-powered products, including MarkiTech, a startup offering remote patient monitoring and clinical workflow automation to improve occupational and behavioral health services and therapies for autistic children.
In this case, public investments in DisabilityTech coincide with noteworthy private sector initiatives, as well. Toronto is home to the Access to Success (ATS) Innovation Hub, founded by the nonprofit tech accelerator in partnership with Hewlett-Packard as Canada’s first coworking and innovation space explicitly centered around supporting disabled entrepreneurs and tech innovators. Nearby, entrepreneurs will also find the Mobility Unlimited Hub, a collaborative initiative between the MaRS Discovery District and the Toyota Mobility Foundation that aims to help pre-growth startups develop and scale inclusive personal mobility solutions, products, and technologies for individuals with disabilities.
In Canada’s case, DisabilityTech startups’ innovations have attracted public sector financing that have in turn emboldened private investors. Which CRPD State Party will be next to catalyze a virtuous cycle of disability human rights innovations?
