Non-Discrimination as a Constructive Element of Reasonable Accommodation in the Context of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

In a multicentric system of law, apart from dignity, the category of equality, which is not only a systemic principle but also meta-law, must be attributed key significance. The same applies to non-discrimination, which is inherent to it. And although one may have the impression that research devoted to the latter remains in the shadow of investigations on the paradigm of equality as such, there are areas in the social discourse in which the burden of analysis shifts towards this prohibition of discrimination, contributing scholarly interest to it. This is exemplified by the subject matter of disability and a special category of human rights, that is the rights of persons with disabilities. Suffice it to say that non-discrimination is not only a sine qua non condition for effective protection of this social group, but also – and perhaps even above all – a constructive element of ensuring reasonable accommodation established by national and international law (including EU law) in force. This is a category that appears in the shadow of research on the wide-ranging issues of accessibility and rights of people with disabilities. This thesis is affirmed by the present study, whose main goal is to confront the categories of reasonable accommodation with the fundamental value and principle of non-discrimination.