1st Edition

Global Perspectives on Legal Capacity Reform Our Voices, Our Stories

    242 Pages
    by Routledge

    242 Pages
    by Routledge

    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.

    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

    Biography

    Eilionóir Flynn is Senior Lecturer at the School of Law and Director of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, National University of Ireland Galway. She is the Principal Investigator of the VOICES project, funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant. She holds a Ph.D. and B.C.L. from University College Cork. Her current research interests are in the areas of legal capacity, disability advocacy, access to justice, and the intersectionality of gender, disability and ageing.

    Anna Arstein-Kerslake is a Senior Lecturer in the Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne and the Academic Co-ordinator of the Disability Research Initiative (DRI). She has developed and co-ordinates the Disability Human Rights Clinic (DHRC) at Melbourne Law School. She holds a Ph.D. in Law from the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), a J.D. from the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law and a B.A. in Sociology from San Diego State University (SDSU).

    Clíona de Bhailís is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, National University of Ireland Galway working on the VOICES project. She graduated with first class honours from the LL.M in Public Law in NUI Galway in 2013 and wrote a minor thesis in the area of legal capacity and access to justice for people with disabilities.

    Maria Laura Serra is a Research Associate/Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, National University of Ireland, Galway. She holds a Ph.D. in Human Rights from Charles III University of Madrid (Spain), a Master's degree in Advanced Studies in Human Rights from the same University and a Law degree from the National University of Mar del Plata (Argentina).