Supported Decision-Making and Personal Autonomy for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities: Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 792-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nandini Devi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Equal Recognition ◽  
Conceptual Skills ◽  
Adults With Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
The Right ◽  
Everyday Living

Making decisions is an important component of everyday living, and issues surrounding autonomy and self-determination are crucial for persons with intellectual disabilities. Adults with intellectual disabilities are characterized by the limitations in their intellectual functioning and in their adaptive behavior, which compromises three skill types (conceptual skills, social skills, and practical skills), and this starts before the age of 18. Though persons with intellectual disabilities are characterized by having these limitations, they are thought to face significant decisionmaking challenges due to their disability. Moving away from this generalization, Article 12 (Equal recognition before the law) of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (herewith called “the Convention”) addresses this issue of decision-making for persons with disabilities, recognizing the right to legal capacity.

Recognising legal capacity: commentary and analysis of Article 12 CRPD

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clíona de Bhailís ◽  
Eilionóir Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Legal Capacity ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Equal Recognition ◽  
The Right ◽  
Key Terms

AbstractThis paper aims to summarise the current understanding and literature around Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It provides a brief history of the key terms associated with the right to equal recognition before the law and encompasses both academic writing in this area and General Comment No. 1 from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The content is intended to provide readers of this Special Issue with a general understanding of developments surrounding Article 12 so they can fully engage with the other papers within this Special Issue and with the content of the Voices of Individuals: Collectively Exploring Self-determination (VOICES) project as a whole.

scholarly journals Implementation of Political Participation Standards for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities in Kenya

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-131
Author(s):  
Luciana Thuo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Participation Rights ◽  
Progressive Inclusion ◽  
The Right ◽  
Disability Movement

This paper reviews international standards on political participation by persons with intellectual disabilities and how they are implemented in Kenya. On one hand, Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) allows limitation of rights based on ‘reasonable and objective’ criteria. Whereas it is considered unreasonable to restrict participation rights of persons with physical disabilities, General Comment 25 to the ICCPR permits restrictions based on ‘established mental incapacity’. On the other hand, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) does not foresee any limitation of participation rights; rather it recognises the freedom of persons with disabilities to be involved in decision-making, including the right to vote and hold public office. Kenya is a party to both instruments, having acceded to the ICCPR in 1972 and ratified the CRPD in 2008. Kenya’s law does not deprive persons with intellectual disabilities of legal capacity. In fact, Article 54(2) of the Constitution of Kenya (2010 Constitution)seeks to increase participation of persons with disabilities in decision making and public life by providing, inter alia, for the progressive inclusion of persons with disabilities in at least five percent of all elective and nominated positions. Whereas Kenya’s law allows for limited guardianship, it is the informal guardianship created by the family, on whom persons with intellectual disabilities are dependent for support, which poses the greatest barrier to the exercise of participation rights. This informal guardianship, combined with negative societal attitudes and ignorance at all levels including the Judiciary, the electoral management body (the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)) and even the wider disability movement, makes political participation rights for persons with intellectual disabilities illusory. If the situation of persons with intellectual disabilities is not addressed, only persons with physical and sensory disabilities will be able to take up the affirmative action measure created by Article 54(2) of the 2010 Constitution.

How Persons with Intellectual Disabilities Are Fighting for Decision-Making Rights

2022 ◽  
Vol 121 (831) ◽  
pp. 30-35
Author(s):  
Chester A. Finn ◽  
Matthew S. Smith ◽  
Michael Ashley Stein
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Legal Capacity ◽  
Disability Rights ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The United Nations

Paternalistic attitudes about what is in the interests of a person with an intellectual disability have long led to abuses, and are embedded in the guardianship laws still in place in most countries. Self-advocates, who identify as people with intellectual or other disabilities and are committed to demanding their rights and educating others about them, are calling for a new approach. They have found support for reforms in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the United Nations in 2006 and since acceded to by 182 countries. By supporting the fundamental right of those with disabilities to make decisions, it has enabled disability rights advocates to successfully challenge legal capacity restrictions and push for “supported decision-making.”

scholarly journals Monitoring mechanisms designed to serve persons with intellectual disabilities: exploring the implementation of Article 16 CRPD in Cyprus

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Julia Kakoullis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
National Human ◽  
Adults With Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
National Human Rights Institutions ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIn its concluding observations for Cyprus, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Committee stated that it ‘is concerned about the insufficiency of legal provisions and accessible mechanisms to detect, report, prevent and combat all forms of violence’.1This paper focuses on the independent monitoring obligation Article 16(3) CRPD places on states parties, and discusses the implications of the insufficient implementation of Article 16(3) as it affects adults with intellectual disabilities in Cyprus. It examines the existing monitoring frameworks, explains why they do not meet with Article 16(3) CRPD requirements and explores the relationship of the national human rights institutions (NHRIs) with Article 16(3). This paper enables understanding as to how, despite pre-existing monitoring frameworks in place, no independent monitoring action has been taken since the ratification of the CRPD. It argues that there is an immediate need for measures to achieve the implementation of Article 16(3) and makes recommendations for Cyprus and other states parties.

scholarly journals Discapacidad y mediación

Aldaba ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Gloria Álvarez Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Equality Of Opportunity ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Right

Pese a las importantes transformaciones sufridas en los últimos años sobre la concepción y el tratamiento de las personas con discapacidad que la ubican como sujeto de derechos capaz de decidir por sí mismo, lo cierto es que persisten determinadas barreras físicas, sensoriales, en la comunicación y, especialmente, en la percepción, resultantes de la interacción entre la persona con discapacidad y un entorno social hostil que dificultan el ejercicio del derecho al acceso a la justicia; y esquivar estas situaciones sin tratar de solucionarlas, supone abocar a las personas con discapacidad a un difícil acceso, o lo que es peor, al impedimento en la defensa de sus derechos. El campo de acción de los sistemas de gestión y resolución de conflictos que, por su esencia misma de flexibilidad, agilidad y, principalmente, la exigencia de que quienes acuden a ellos lo hagan desde el ejercicio de la libertad o desde la autonomía de la voluntad, resulta de sumo interés para las personas con discapacidad, en la medida en que procuran la igualdad de oportunidades, la accesibilidad y la potenciación de la libre determinación.In spite of the important changes undergone in recent years in the conception and treatment of people with disabilities who place them as a subject of rights capable of deciding for themselves, certain physical and sensorial barriers persist in communication and, especially in perception, resulting from the interaction between the disabled person and a hostile social environment that hinder the exercise of the right to access to justice; and avoid these situations without trying to solve them, is to give people with disabilities difficult access, or, worse, the impediment in the defense of their rights. The field of action of the systems of management and resolution of conflicts that, by its very essence of flexibility, agility and, mainly, the requirement that those who come to them do it from the exercise of freedom or from the autonomy of the will, Is of great interest to persons with disabilities, insofar as they seek equality of opportunity, accessibility and the enhancement of self-determination.

Mothers', Fathers', and their Children's Perceptions and Reasoning about Nurturance and Self-Determination Rights

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Cherney
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Moral Consideration ◽  
Age Difference ◽  
Children's Perceptions ◽  
Children’S Perceptions ◽  
Older Adolescents

AbstractThe present study investigated the development of autonomy by interviewing 47 ten-to- sixteen year-old adolescents and their parents from three US Midwestern cities about their perceptions of children's rights. The findings showed that on average, parents thought that their children would advocate for more rights than their children actually did. Mothers were more likely than fathers to believe that their child would advocate for self-determination rights. Older adolescents used more diverse reasoning categories than younger adolescents in their decision making. There was no age difference in the adolescents' support of nurturance and self-determination rights. Parents were generally given authority over moral consideration, but less over conventional and personal conventions. The results are discussed in the context of the development of personal autonomy and relatedness.

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