Description
This edited collection is the result of the Voices of Individuals: Collectively Exploring Self-determination (VOICES) based at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, National University of Ireland Galway. Focusing on the exercise of legal capacity under Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the stories of people with disabilities are combined with responses from scholars, activists and practitioners, addressing four key areas: criminal responsibility, contracts, consent to sex, and consent to medical treatment. Sustainable law and policy reforms are set out based on the storytellers’ experiences, promoting a recognition of legal capacity and supported decision-making. The perspectives are from across a wide range of disciplines (including law, sociology, nursing, and history) and 13 countries.
The volume is a valuable resource for researchers, academics and legislators, judges or policy makers in the area of legal capacity and disability. It is envisaged that the book will be particularly useful for those engaged in legal capacity law reform processes worldwide and that this grounded work will be of great interest to legislators and policy makers who must frame new laws on supported decision making in compliance with the UNCRPD.
Table of Contents
Foreword
About the Project
Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
1 Theoretical Framework
Clíona de Bhailís
2 Project Methodology & Background
Eilionóir Flynn
Part 1: Criminal Responsibility – Diversion & the Insanity Defence
3 Introduction to Criminal Responsibility
Anna Arstein-Kerslake
4 Going to pot: Nick’s journey through the criminal justice system
Nicholas Clarke, Chloe Hocking and Nell Munro
5 Questions of Criminal Culpability and Persons with Disabilities
Amita Dhanda and Gabor Gombos
6 Conclusion: Criminal Responsibility
Anna Arstein-Kerslake
Part 2: Contractual Capacity – Inheritance, Property & Everyday Decision Making
7 Introduction to Contractual Capacity
Clíona de Bhailís
8 I have the strength to speak up for myself
Nikona nguvu ya kujiongelelea.
Joy Rehema and Emer O’Shea
9 Silenced, Alone, Powerless: My Life as a Ward of Court in Ireland
Claire Hendrick and Donna Mc Namara
10 "The law is very complicated…"
Dermot Lowndes and Jan Strnad
11 Travel and dementia: one story, many rights.
Helen Rochford Brennan and Moira Jenkins
12 Consumer Law, Contracts & Support: I had one dream – to buy a simple smartphone
Marieta Petrova and Aylin Yumerova
13 From Institutional Life to Home Ownership: a personal story demonstrating the power of support to enable the exercise of legal capacity
Paul Alford and Michelle Browning
14 Conclusion: Contractual Capacity
Clíona de Bhailís
Part 3: Relationships and Consent to Sex
15 Introduction to Relationships and Consent to Sex
María Laura Serra
16 Marriage and Intellectual Disability in Ireland: "My sister is married, why can’t I get married?"
Maria Mahony and Sarah Richardson
17 Dreaming of traveling – Dreaming of freedom: Relationships and the Right to Support
Ronnie Harris and Jana Offergeld
18 Conclusion: Relationships and Consent to Sex
María Laura Serra
Part 4: Consent to Medical Treatment – Mental Health & Forced Treatment
19 Introduction to Consent to Medical Treatment
Eilionóir Flynn
20 This is Not a Story: From Ethical Loneliness to Respect for Diverse Ways of Knowing, Thinking and Being
Cath Roper and Piers Gooding
21 Getting sucked out of that black hole termed India’s legal mental health machinery
Lavanya Seshayee and Maths Jesperson
22 Consent is More than Just Yes or No
Fiona Anderson and Bo Chen
23 The Humour in my Tumour: Respecting Legal Capacity in Health Care Decision Making
Reshma Vallippan and Roxanne Mykitiuk
24 Conclusion: Consent to Medical Treatment
Eilionóir Flynn
25 Freedom: A Work in Progress
Rusi Stanev and Sheila Wildeman
26 Overall Conclusion
Eilionóir Flynn
Index
