As persons with disabilities (hereinafter PWDs) are among the marginalized groups of the society, it is obvious that they are more vulnerable to the violation of human rights. The right to access justice is one of the most frequently denied human rights for PWDs. Accordingly, this study was conducted aiming at unveiling the gaps in the Ethiopian legal framework and practical challenges in ensuring effective access to the criminal justice system for PWDs in Bahirdar city. To this end, the researcher employed qualitative research methodology. While review of relevant literature and analysis of legal instruments were used to identify the legal gaps with regard to addressing the access to justice needs of PWDs in the criminal justice system, interviews, observation and focus group discussions were employed as means of data collection to identify the practical gaps.Accordingly, this study found that, though it has been over a decade since Ethiopia ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter, CRPD), which has a lot of important provisions to ensure the realization of effective access to justice, the country has undertaken limited measures to incorporate and implement these provisions. To mention, the available laws and policies regarding PWDS in the country are to be found scattered in different legal documents. More importantly, legislations which have particular relevance to the criminal justice system including, the FDRE constitution, the criminal law and other procedural laws failed to specifically address the access to justice needs of PWDs. Though there are a few legislations regarding the right to access justice of PWDs in Ethiopia, they are poorly implemented in practice. This study also found out that poor implementation is a major problem in Bahirdar city even after the introduction of the rather progressive and detailed Disability Mainstreaming Directive of the Amhara regional state in late 2020. Accordingly, a closer look into the practical situation in Bahirdar, the study area, exhibited that physical inaccessibility, information and communication barriers, lack of reasonable accommodation, attitudinal problems and limited participation of PWDS in the legal profession are posing major challenges in ensuring effective access to the criminal justice system for PWDs