scholarly journals The convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and mental health law: A critical review

Alter ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Ramos Pozón
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Mental Health Law

Mental Health Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Conceptual Basis ◽  
Disability Rights ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Mental Health Law ◽  
Abolitionist Movement ◽  
Treaty Interpretation ◽  
The Right

The debate about whether mental health law should be abolished or reformed emerged during the negotiations of the Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities (‘CRPD’) and has raged fiercely for over a decade. It has resulted in an impasse between abolitionists, States Parties, and other reformers and a literature which has devolved into ‘camps’. Mental Health Law: Abolish or Reform? aims to cut through the confusion using the tools of human rights treaty interpretation backed by a deep jurisprudential analysis of core CRPD concepts—dignity (including autonomy), equality, and participation—to gain a clearer understanding of the meaning of the CRPD and what it requires States Parties to do. In doing so, it sets out the development of both mental health law and the abolitionist movement including its goals and how and why it has emerged now. By digging deeper into the conceptual basis of the CRPD and developing the ‘interpretive compass’, the book aims to flesh out a broader vision of disability rights and move the debate forward by evaluating the three main current abolition and reform options: Abolition with Support, Mental Capacity with Support, and Support Except Where There is Harm. Drawing on jurisprudential and multi-disciplinary research from philosophy, medicine, sociology, disability studies, and history, it argues that mental health law should not be abolished, but should instead be significantly reformed to minimize coercion and maximize the support and choices given to persons with mental impairments to realize of all of their CRPD rights.

7. Mental Health Law

Medical Law ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 351-419
Author(s):  
Emily Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Community Treatment ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Mental Health Law ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Independent Review ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
The Uk

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter discusses mental health law in the UK. It begins with a brief history of mental health law and policy. This is followed by discussions of: admission to the mental health system; treatment of the mentally ill under the Mental Health Act 1983; Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and Cheshire West, and Community Treatment Orders. It also looks at the implications of the Human Rights Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) for mental health law. It also considers the conclusions of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A New Approach to Decision-Making in Mental Health Law

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 423-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Morrissey
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Legal Capacity ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Mental Health Law ◽  
Health Rights ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) requires us to engage in new approaches to decision-making in mental health law. The reclassification of mental health rights to the realm of disability rights is an important step towards equal treatment for persons with psychosocial disabilities. Law reformers worldwide are beginning to consider the implications of the provisions. Legislators will be required to understand the underlying philosophy of the CRPD to realise the rights set out in it. The CRPD possesses a number of innovative provisions which can transform decision-making in the mental health context. Article 12 provides a new conceptualisation of persons with disabilities and their capacity to participate by requiring support to exercise legal capacity. While good practice exists, the provision has yet to be fully implemented by many State Parties. This article discusses the impact of the CRPD on mental health law, legal capacity law and describes examples of supported decision-making models for mental health care.

The Interpretive Compass Part 2: Theories of Equality and Non-Discrimination

2021 ◽  
pp. 126-139
Author(s):  
Kay Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Mental Health Law ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
Indirect Discrimination ◽  
Formal Equality ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Holistic Vision

Chapter 6 explains the second limb of the interpretive compass—equality and non-discrimination. The concepts of equality and discrimination are highly complex and contested in law, politics, and philosophy. This Chapter argues that the text of the CRPD is based on a wide-ranging, eclectic, and under-developed conception of equality and discrimination which is prone to inherent tensions, especially in relation to the proposed abolition of mental health law. That is, it notes conflict between formal equality in abolishing mental health law to treat everyone the same and achieving substantive equality which is sufficiently sensitive to difference, as well as conflict between direct and indirect discrimination. I describe all of the different types of equality and non-discrimination which underpin the model of equality and non-discrimination in the CRPD. I argue in accordance with my overarching contention that a meaning of equality and non-discrimination which is consistent with the overall purpose of the CRPD to ensure the enjoyment of all of the rights of persons with mental impairments is to be preferred. That is, in accordance with international human law, all rights are seen as ‘universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated’. I propose a holistic vision of equality in which persons with disabilities are able to live a meaningful life with housing, education, employment, family, and leisure taking into account their impairments and where realization of one right should not be at the cost of sacrificing others.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Kay Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Mental Health Law ◽  
Social Model Of Disability ◽  
Key Terms

Chapter 1 introduces the key question asked by the book: whether mental health law should be abolished or reformed and defines all the key terms (e.g. mental health law, mental impairment, involuntary detention and treatment, voluntary treatment, abolition and reform, etc). It puts mental health law into its wider social context pointing out that while at least 20 per cent of the community in any given year and 50 per cent in their lifetime have a mental health problem, mental health law only applies to a relatively small number of persons with severe mental health problems who are medically assessed to be at risk of harming themselves or others. It sets out the background to the fierce controversy about the future of mental health law during the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) negotiations and since its entry into force in 2008. It explains the conceptual framework for the book being human rights treaty interpretation and the jurisprudential or ethical analysis consistent with Ronald Dworkin of three core CRPD and human rights concepts—dignity (including autonomy), equality, and participation—to create the ‘interpretive compass.’ It discusses the social model of disability, the medical model, the human rights model, and the interactive model. It defines the scope of the book in that it excludes consideration of mental health specific criminal law doctrines like fitness to plead and the insanity defence and clarifies that the focus is on mental health law rather than other forms of substitute decision-making like guardianship. It explains the structure of the book.

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