Equality and the Prohibition of Discrimination
The protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in Georgia rests on a dedicated law. Under its Article 3, the state ensures equality before the law and the realization of rights on an equal basis with others in all spheres of community life. Article 5 prohibits any form of discrimination on the ground of disability and provides that discrimination also includes refusal of reasonable accommodation. The state undertakes all appropriate measures to promote equality through reasonable accommodation, and every person with disability has the right to the inviolability of their physical and mental integrity on an equal basis with others. Together these norms create the legal foundation on which a gap in accessibility ceases to be the personal problem of the excluded person and becomes an obligation of the state, which is the practical meaning of protection in this field.
Special Guarantees for Women and Children
The law pays particular attention to vulnerable groups. Under Article 6, the state ensures the realization of the fundamental rights and freedoms of women and girls with disabilities on an equal basis with other women and promotes their access to the right to reproductive health care. Article 7 concerns children with disabilities: in any action concerning them, the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration. The state ensures children the opportunity to express their views freely on all matters affecting them, taking account of age and level of development, and establishes mechanisms for continuous education, participation in community life, life in the biological family, and protection from concealment, abandonment, neglect and segregation. Where a family cannot care for a child, the state organizes alternative care within the wider family circle, taking into account the child's ethnic origin, religious and cultural affiliation and native language.
Health Care, Habilitation and Rehabilitation
Under Article 9 of the law, the state, taking into account individual needs, ensures access to health care services on an equal basis with others: accessibility of institutions, the implementation of various kinds of programmes, the promotion of relevant standards and methods, and the provision of preventive, early diagnosis and treatment-rehabilitation services. Article 10 governs habilitation and rehabilitation: the state promotes the creation of services and programmes that ensure maximum independence and the use and strengthening of physical, sensory, mental and vocational abilities, considering age, sex and the degree and type of disability. These services should be provided at the earliest possible stage and be based on an assessment of the individual's needs, while the professional training of specialists and staff is an integral part of the sphere's development.