A/70/297 18. While in principle the right to social protection applies to all persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, in practice there has been a significant underuse of the international legal framework to advance this and other human rights for persons with disabilities. 19. In this context, the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities represents a major step towards disability-inclusive social protection. Article 28 refers for the first time in an international instrument to the right to socia l protection and links it to the right to an adequate standard of living , with reference to adequate food, clothing and housing, and the continuous improvement of living conditions. It also tailors the right to social protection to persons with disabilitie s, recognizing that they must enjoy this right without discrimination on the basis of disability, and establishes a pathway for their inclusion in all efforts related to the realization of this right. 20. More specifically, article 28 creates an obligation for States parties to take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities receive equal access to mainstream social protection programmes and services — including basic services, poverty reduction programmes, housing programmes, and retirement benefits and programmes — as well as access to specific programmes and services for disability related needs and expenses. 21. Social protection also resonates in other provisions of the Convention, including in relation to the right to live independently and be included in the community (art. 19), respect for home and the family (art. 23), education (art. 24), health (art. 25), habilitation and rehabilitation (art. 26) and work and employment (art. 27). Importantly, social protection interventions should be measured against the Convention’s principles of non-discrimination, participation and inclusion, equal opportunities, accessibility, and equality between men and women (art. 3). 22. The Convention moves beyond traditional disability-welfare considerations towards a complex equality model that highlights the interdependence and indivisibility of all human rights, stressing that persons with disabilities must enjoy these rights on an equal basis with others. 23. Traditional disability-welfare approaches have been instrumental in building and spreading the medical model of disability worldwide, 11 since they were part of a societal structure that considered disability as a medical problem, and persons with disabilities as unable to work, cope independently or participate in society. Unsurprisingly, these approaches triggered further segregation and loss of self determination. Children with disabilities were sent to special schools and persons with disabilities received medical attention and rehab ilitation in segregated settings, along the lines of “fixing” or “curing” them while disregarding their own will. When persons with disabilities were granted disability benefits, this was often based on the premise that they were not able to work. 24. Therefore, social protection for persons with disabilities needs to move towards intervention systems that promote active citizenship, social inclusion and community participation, while avoiding paternalism, dependence and segregation. The ultimate aim is to achieve the right to live independently and be included in the __________________ 11 8/25 Theresia Degener and Gerard Quinn, “A Survey of international, comparative and regional disability law reform” in Disability Rights Law and Policy: International and National Perspectives, Mary Lou Breslin and Silvia Lee, eds. (Transnational Publishers, 2002). 15-12544