The Model of Disability in Saudi Arabia

• Author: Hashem N. Alsharif
• Position: The American University Washington College of Law
• Pages: 3-23

e Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law

ISSN: 2338-7602; E-ISSN: 2338-770X

http://www.ijil.org

© 2019 e Institute for Migrant Rights Press

thE ModEls of disaBilitiEs in saudi

araBia

Hashem N. Alsharif

e American University Washington College of Law,

E-mail: Dr.H89@hotmail.com

e Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an international

treaty that addresses matters related to persons with disabilities, prohibits all

forms of discrimination against persons with disabilities. Saudi Arabia signed

the Convention in 2008, but has not yet ratied the Convention based on socie-

tal views of disability in Saudi Arabia. Specically, Article 12 of the Convention

raises concern for Saudi society as it advocates recognizing all persons with in-

tellectual disabilities as full persons before the law, which is incompatible with

the legal framework and social system in Saudi Arabia. However, disability can

be viewed under dierent paradigms, called the models of disability. Over time,

disability advocacy has called on people and society to change perceptions on

disability using these dierent models of disability. Disability rights in Saudi

Arabia are complex because how disability is viewed consists of a host of factors

that shape societal views. Although dierent models of disability are examined

in this article, the social model of disability provides the most nuanced frame-

work to align societal views and legal reformation to improve the situation for

people with disabilities in Saudi Arabia. Aer examining these models from a

Saudi Arabian perspective, this article calls on Saudi Arabia to adopt the social

model of disability in order to amend its laws and ratify the Convention.

Keywords: Medical Model; Social Model; Disability Justice; Islam; Saudi Arabia;

People with Disability.

VI Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law 1-23 (January 2019)

4

Alsharif

INTRODUCTION

In 2008, Saudi Arabia signed and ratied the Convention on the Rights

of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD),1 an international treaty that ad-

dresses matters related to persons with disabilities (PWD).2 Article

12 of the CRPD declares that State Parties “rearm that persons with

disabilities have the right to recognition everywhere as persons before

t he la w.”3 Article 12(2) requires State Parties to “recognize that persons

with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all

aspects of life.”4

Unlike the provision of Article 12(2) of the CRPD, persons with

intellectual disabilities (PWID)5 in Saudi Arabia are not entitled per

se to the legal capacity to act; Saudi Arabia noted this distinction

when signing the CRPD.6 is distinction does not explicitly violate

Article 12 of the CRPD; however, because of this distinction, all laws

and practices in Saudi Arabia are based on the notion that PWID

are incapable of acting without the supervision of guardians, which

renders PWID incapable until proven otherwise. Furthermore, this

distinction shows how Saudi society looks at PWD’s rights, which is

1. G.A. Res. 61/106, annex I, U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Dis-

abilities (Dec. 13, 2006) [hereinaer CRPD].

2. e Disability Welfare Law (DWL) states in Article 1, that a person is consid-

ered disabled if he suers “from a permanent, whether total or partial, impair-

ment aecting his senses, or his physical, mental, communicative, learning or

psychological abilities, in a manner that reduces his ability to perform daily

activities compared to a non-disabled person.” e DWL, furthermore, lists

a number of disabilities that are protected by the law, such as “visual impair-

ment, hearing impairment, mental disability, physical and motor disability,

learning disabilities, speech disorders, behavioral and emotional disorders, au-

tism, double and multiple disabilities, and other disabilities that require special

c a re .”

3. CRPD art. 12.

4. Id. art. 12(2).

5. is assertion is viewed on a case-by-case analysis depending on the severity of

a person’s intellectual disability.

6. Brenton Kinker, An Evaluation of the Prospects for Successful Implementation of

the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Islamic World, 35

M. J. I’ L. 443, 481 n.313 (2014).