AI Policy & Governance, Privacy & Data
Comments on AI’s Impact on People with Disabilities to UN Special Rapporteur
The American Association of People with Disabilities, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund joined CDT in comments to inform an upcoming report on AI and disability rights by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Our comments discuss AI’s impact on people with disabilities across health care and benefits determinations, the criminal legal systems, employment, education, and the provision of goods and services. As the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) recognizes, whether people with disabilities can access critical opportunities too often depends on how society perceives their “inherent dignity and worth.” The standards used to make such decisions can be built into AI and automated decision-making (ADM). As a result, AI and ADM may violate the CRPD’s protections across social spheres, especially for disabled people who are multiply marginalized. If AI is to help build a better future, it must be designed to expand access to opportunities and actively benefit the people it currently harms most.
