A/70/297 programmes are targeted towards the poor. Social protection programmes target persons with disabilities either as a separate group through disability -specific programmes; by explicitly incorporating them within the targeting criteria of mainstream programmes; or by including them within groups at risk of poverty. 52 Programmes can also either target all persons with disabilities, only certain age groups, or focus on a particular level or type of impairment. 56. The targeting of persons with disabilities entails several difficulties. Firs t, eligibility conditions in social protection programmes rely either on definitions of persons with disabilities derived from national legislation — which often have a narrow medical focus or exclude specific groups — or include programme-specific definitions, which may be limited to work capacity or medical assessments. States should review their national definition of persons with disabilities to ensure its conformity with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 57. Second, even with a rights-based definition of persons with disabilities, it remains extremely difficult to determine whether a person is part of the targeted group or not. For instance, some countries may lack the administrative capacity required for disability determination in urban, rural and remote areas. The heterogeneity of the disability community makes targeting particularly challenging, especially in the case of invisible or episodic impairments. In some cases, corruption or medical discretion can also affect the di sability assessments. Therefore, disability-targeting errors are very frequent. 53 58. Third, in the case of means-tested programmes, income thresholds are usually determined at the household level through direct means -testing or proxy meanstesting. These instruments tend to overlook the extra cost of disability and, when it is considered, an individual assessment of personal and environmental factors affecting that cost is hardly ever made. Thus, persons with disabilities with higher support needs tend to be overlooked. 59. Fourth, disability-related services, devices and other assistance may also be subject to means-testing, limiting the coverage of disability-related programmes. In this respect, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has expressed concern about limiting access to social protection benefits and subsidies to those who meet “poverty criteria” or a “financial assets test”. 54 Therefore, while poverty reduction programmes should include additional disability-related expenditures, disability-specific social protection programmes should not be limited in scope to the poverty threshold, without considering the extra costs that make people with disabilities more prone to becoming poor. 60. Fifth, the eligibility criteria of social protection programmes should not include factors that could directly or indirectly exclude persons with disabilities. For instance, in many countries child nutrition programmes operate only at childcare centres and schools. Since children with disabilities have fewer opportunities to attend school, many of them lack access to nutrition programmes. Older persons with disabilities are also usually excluded from receiving disability benefits owing __________________ 52 53 54 18/25 M. Palmer, Social Protection and Disability: A Call for Action, Oxford Development Studies, 2013. S. Mitra, “Disability and social safety nets in developing countries” , Social Protection Discussion Paper Series (World Bank, 2005). CRPD/C/CRI/CO/1, para. 57; CRPD/C/HRV/CO/1, para. 44. 15-12544