Disability Discrimination in the Legal System - Case of Macedonia

Disability discrimination is a globally spread phenomenon. The Macedonian society is no exception from this trend. In the last several years, the country has established an anti-discrimination legal framework, which seems to lay solid foundations upon which case law can be developed in the future. The paper elaborates the existing national legislation for prevention and protection against discrimination, specifically disability discrimination. Specifically, the paper analyzes the definition of disability in the national legislation and its critique due to its foundation on the medical model of seeing the disability, which is outdated in the contemporary international law. Furthermore, the paper presents the current situation as to all forms of discrimination on ground of disability, including direct and indirect discrimination and harassment, prescribing the need for reasonable accommodation, and prohibiting the instruction to discriminate by natural and legal persons, in the public and in the private sectors. Finally, the paper identifies the key challenges and recommends actions for overcoming them. The text uses results from research and surveys that have been conducted in the country and related discrimination as an illustration of trends and patterns