From 2021 onward, organizations of persons with disabilities have been granted the legal right to represent their beneficiaries in court (actio popularis). Today, we are exercising this right in an effort to establish a landmark precedent.
Just a few days ago, we filed an appeal with the administrative court against the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Starting on February 1, 2023, the Ministry has been employing a novel set of evaluative tools to determine disability status. Specialist assessments gauge individual functionality, input this data into the system, and a final decision is automatically generated by the e-disability electronic system. What is troubling, however, is that the Ministry has not disclosed the formula behind these calculations, nor is this formula grounded in any established legal framework.
Consequently, thousands of people undergo this functional assessment without the ability to understand or challenge the basis of the decisions made about them. This practice undermines the rights of persons with disabilities to equal protection under the law.
We have petitioned the court to declare the Ministry’s actions—namely, the creation and implementation of this undisclosed formula within the e-disability system—as unlawful.
On September 1, Administrative Court Judge Aghasi Darbinyan approved our lawsuit for proceedings. The initial court hearing has been scheduled for December 6, 2023, at 3:30 p.m. and will be held at the Yerevan branch of the Administrative Court (in hall 25).
Given the unprecedented and significant scale of this case, we anticipate keen interest from media outlets, human rights organizations, and international partners alike.
Afterword - The scope of this legal case does not cover additional concerns that DRA finds crucial regarding e-disability.am and its functionality assessment system. Specifically, the case does not address the platform's non-adherence to the basic A-level criteria laid out by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, nor the impact of not considering the environmental factors and self-assessment results on final decisions.