CRPD Article Research Articles

Recognizing the rights of children with disabilities in Malawi

Little is known about the realization of the rights of children with disabilities in Malawi, including which rights are being met or violated, where protection of rights must be reinforced, and ways that society can support the rights. This study explored the realization of the rights of children with disabilities in Malawi. Data generation included interviews with 30 children with disabilities (15 boys, 15 girls). Data were analyzed using content analysis and Taguette software, with codes generated relating to the UN CRPD articles. Findings indicate that children expressed discrimination and inequities toward the realization of multiple rights. In particular, there remain significant gaps in policy and programs addressing freedom from violence and abuse in community and school settings. The findings of this study will enable duty bearers, decision-makers, and service providers to prioritize initiatives for children with disabilities in Malawi to ensure their comprehensive breadth of rights is met. Points of interest This study examined how the rights of children with disabilities in Malawi are being met. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) provides a framework for developing policy, designing services, and implementing programs for children with disabilities based on their rights. Children with disabilities said they get support, feel respected by family, and don’t feel neglected or abandoned by their parents. The government, community, teachers, NGOs, and families are working together to support the rights of children with disabilities. Significant issues exist in providing inclusive education and preventing violence for children with disabilities, both in terms of services and policies. This study’s results will help those responsible for actions, decision-makers, and service providers in Malawi prioritize policies and programs for children with disabilities, ensuring that their full range of rights is addressed.

Insights of people with disabilities regarding barriers to equality and inclusion

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) aims to guarantee the rights and conditions essential to the full participation of people with disabilities. Israel signed the convention in 2007 and ratified it in 2012. In this study we examined the barriers to full participation from the experience of people with disabilities in Israel. Sixty-one semi-structured interviews and nine focus groups were conducted during 9/2018–12/2019. We analysed the data using direct content analyses. A total of ten CRPD articles were relevant to the barriers found in the study. Stigmas, bureaucracy, and inaccessibility are issues that affect, sometimes dramatically, decisions and behaviors of people with disabilities in Israel in daily life as well as in the significant stages of life. The findings show the importance of integrating the experiences of people with disabilities into research and policy while reaching out to them with information on their rights.

The Implementation of CRPD Article 13 Access to Justice in Hong Kong

China ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2008. Hong Kong, as a Special Administrative Region of China is thus also obligated to implement this treaty. CRPD Article 13 protects the right to access to justice for people with disabilities, including Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) individuals. In Hong Kong, research exploring the implementation of CRPD Article 13 in practice is lacking. This study utilizes in-depth interviews and case studies of deaf individuals, a case worker, and a barrister as its methodological approach. It aims to investigate the implementation of CRPD Article 13 within the criminal justice system in Hong Kong through the lived experiences of DHH individuals. The findings of the research suggest that there are significant gaps in the implementation of CRPD Article 13 for DHH individuals in Hong Kong. Institutional, communicative, and attitudinal barriers highlighted in the CRPD are identified in the experiences of DHH individuals with the legal system, indicating an insufficiently comprehensive system to ensure equal rights for DHH individuals.

Ethical Prescribing of Psychotropic Medications for People with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

ObjectivesPeople with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) such as intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and autism are subjected to restrictive practices like physical restraint and the overuse of psychotropic medications for challenging behaviour in the absence of a psychiatric disorder. This practice may lead to human rights violations. Rational and evidence-based shared decision-making for person-centred planning will help reduce this practice.MethodsWe have discussed in this paper the issue of the overmedication of people with NDD, explaining how this practice may violate the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).ResultsWe have discussed how the following UN CRPD Articles may be affected by overmedication, including Article 15 (degrading treatment or punishment), 16 (abuse), 17 (the integrity of the person), and 25 (health). The other Articles that may be indirectly affected by this practice are 5 (equality and non-discrimination), 9 (accessibility), 19 (independent living and community inclusion), 21 (access to information), 24 (education), 26 (rehabilitation), 27 (work and employment), 28 (adequate living standard), and 30 (participation in recreation and leisure).ConclusionsOvermedication of people with NDD, particularly the off-licence use of psychotropics for challenging behaviour, the side effects of these medications impacting the person’s quality of life are likely to violet several UN Articles on Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Following the right guidelines may help reduce these human rights violations.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme review process: weaknesses and opportunities to enhance the CRPD

ABSTRACT The National Disability Insurance Scheme (‘NDIS’) commenced in 2013 and is designed to give effect to Australia’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006 (‘CRPD’). Criticism of the NDIS has been widespread since the rollout, raising questions regarding compliance with the CRPD. This article specifically examines the shortcomings of the review process that persons with disabilities may encounter when they disagree with a decision made by the National Disability Insurance Agency, the body administering the NDIS, relating to their funding. It highlights inconsistencies with the CRPD article 13 ‘Access to justice’, article 12 ‘Equal recognition before the law’ and article 9 ‘Accessibility’. The reader will gain a deeper knowledge of the human rights weaknesses of the NDIS review process and how this impacts persons with disabilities. Opportunities to enhance compliance with the CPRD and start restoring confidence in the NDIS for persons with disabilities will be identified.

A Virtual Community for Disability Advocacy: Development of a Searchable Artificial Intelligence-Supported Platform.

BackgroundThe lack of availability of disability data has been identified as a major challenge hindering continuous disability equity monitoring. It is important to develop a platform that enables searching for disability data to expose systemic discrimination and social exclusion, which increase vulnerability to inequitable social conditions.ObjectiveOur project aims to create an accessible and multilingual pilot disability website that structures and integrates data about people with disabilities and provides data for national and international disability advocacy communities. The platform will be endowed with a document upload function with hybrid (automated and manual) paragraph tagging, while the querying function will involve an intelligent natural language search in the supported languages.MethodsWe have designed and implemented a virtual community platform using Wikibase, Semantic Web, machine learning, and web programming tools to enable disability communities to upload and search for disability documents. The platform data model is based on an ontology we have designed following the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The virtual community facilitates the uploading and sharing of validated information, and supports disability rights advocacy by enabling dissemination of knowledge.ResultsUsing health informatics and artificial intelligence techniques (namely Semantic Web, machine learning, and natural language processing techniques), we were able to develop a pilot virtual community that supports disability rights advocacy by facilitating uploading, sharing, and accessing disability data. The system consists of a website on top of a Wikibase (a Semantic Web–based datastore). The virtual community accepts 4 types of users: information producers, information consumers, validators, and administrators. The virtual community enables the uploading of documents, semiautomatic tagging of their paragraphs with meaningful keywords, and validation of the process before uploading the data to the disability Wikibase. Once uploaded, public users (information consumers) can perform a semantic search using an intelligent and multilingual search engine (QAnswer). Further enhancements of the platform are planned.ConclusionsThe platform ontology is flexible and can accommodate advocacy reports and disability policy and legislation from specific jurisdictions, which can be accessed in relation to the CRPD articles. The platform ontology can be expanded to fit international contexts. The virtual community supports information upload and search. Semiautomatic tagging and intelligent multilingual semantic search using natural language are enabled using artificial intelligence techniques, namely Semantic Web, machine learning, and natural language processing.

How the statutory health attorney provision in Mental Health Act 2016 (Qld) is incompatible with human rights.

Mental Health Act 2016 (Qld) (MHA 2016) includes many 'less restrictive ways' to minimise involuntary/compulsory treatment. One such measure, the statutory health attorney, has been adopted from the Powers of Attorney Act 1998 (Qld). This paper analyses the statutory health attorney provision against the human rights framework adopted by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The statutory health attorney provision was analysed against the CRPD article 12 (equal recognition before the law). The statutory health attorney provision is not based on the will and preferences of the individual, is not free from conflict of interest and is not subject to the required safeguards. The use of a statutory health attorney brings mental health and physical health under the same provision (the fusion law/proposal). However, the statutory health attorney provision is not compatible with the contemporary human rights framework adopted by the CRPD.

Measurable Indicators of CRPD for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities within the Quality of Life Framework.

This article proposes the quality of life (QOL) construct as a framework from which to develop useful indicators to operationalize, measure, and implement the Articles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). A systematic review of the scientific literature on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) was carried out, with the aim of identifying personal outcomes that can be translated into specific and measurable items for each of the CRPD Articles aligned to the eight QOL domains. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, the systematic review was conducted across the Web of Science Core Collection, Current Contents Connect (CCC), MEDLINE, KCI-Korean Journal Database, Russian Science Citation Index and SciELO Citation Index, for articles published between 2008 and 2020. A total of 65 articles focusing on people with IDD were selected. The results were grouped into four broad categories: conceptual frameworks used to monitor the CRPD; instruments used to assess the rights set out in the CRPD; recommendations on the use of inclusive research; and indicators or personal outcomes associated with specific rights contained in the CRPD.

Grounding the right to live in the community (CRPD Article 19) in the capabilities approach to social justice

For advocates of the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly persons with mental disabilities, the human right to live in the community as an equal member is seen to be central and, often, even as the basis for all other human rights. Yet, despite its articulation in human rights law in the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD), foundational issues about the right remain undertheorized and unclear. This paper brings to bear the capabilities approach, a normative framework about human well-being, social development and social justice, to this central concern in disability rights, mental health ethics, and international human rights law: protecting and respecting a person's right to live in a community as an equal. We argue that this human and moral right is best conceptualized as a capability to live in the community as an equal member. The capabilities approach provides this capability with a strong ethical framework and conceptual resources to guide reasoning and its practical realization.

Examining the National Core Indicators' Potential to Monitor Rights of People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities According to the CRPD

AbstractThe Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) aims to change attitudes and policies toward individuals with disabilities worldwide and to foster the inclusion and independence of persons with disabilities in society. The current study was designed to assess empirically the extent to which people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) exercise certain rights in the United States using the National Core Indicators Adult Consumer Survey (NCI‐ACS), particularly to see if items could be scaled to measure certain CRPD articles reliably. An additional aim was to assess the impact of guardianship on the rights of individuals with IDD. NCI‐ACS data were analyzed employing factor analysis, multiple analysis of variance, and regression modeling. These approaches allowed us to assess the relationship between guardianship and rights controlling for known covariates (such as level of ID) on outcomes. Results indicate that the NCI‐ACS contains several items with sound psychometric properties that can assist in measuring certain rights of people with disabilities according to CRPD. Specifically, employment and budgetary agency appear to be areas of rights outlined by the CRPD that the NCI‐ACS can help measure. Finally, the results indicated that people who have an appointed legal guardian are less likely to be employed and to have less social privacy. This study indicates the NCI‐ACS has the potential to measure access to CRPD rights, such as employment and budgetary agency, by people with IDD. More work is needed to evaluate additional promising measures of a wider range of CRPD articles. Alternatives to guardianship need to be examined in order to increase the opportunities for people with IDD to exercise their rights.

A Model for National Human Rights Systems? New Governance and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

ABSTRACTThe 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) epitomises the institutional turn of the international human rights regime in two ways. It requests that States Parties conform to specific organisational features, and aims at transforming not only state behaviour, but also social norms of all actors in society, to anchor a human rights approach to disability. At the centre of this exercise lies CRPD Article 33 on ‘National Implementation and Monitoring’, which foresees that States Parties should establish or appoint focal points, coordination mechanisms and independent monitoring bodies. In addition, the principle of participation permeates the Convention.This article analyses attempts by norm entrepreneurs to design models for human rights systems based on the CRPD, and in particular the convergence of those models towards institutional arrangements inspired by new governance theories. Building upon a study of Article 33 scholarship, the article discusses the validity of such interpretations. It calls to carefully consider the implications of those new governance-oriented interpretations, notably how they challenge the role of courts and litigation, and potentially recasts the meaning of rights and responsibility. The article concludes on the need to better integrate different treaty compliance paths.

The CRPD Article 12, the limits of reductionist approaches to complex issues and the necessary search for compromise.

The CRPD Article 12, the limits of reductionist approaches to complex issues and the necessary search for compromise.

Realization of the rights of persons with disabilities in Rwanda.

This scoping study assessed the realization of the rights for persons with disabilities in Rwanda since the signing of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) in 2008. Underpinned by the five-stage framework of Arksey and O’Malley, the scoping study examined peer-reviewed literature published between 2008 and 2017. Nine electronic databases were searched using keywords specific to disability in Rwanda. Data were charted by three reviewers according to pre-determined and emergent categories. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data sources. A total of 60 scholarly articles met the inclusion criteria. Within the research, studies pertaining to the UN CRPD Articles of health, awareness raising, accessibility, and children with disabilities were the most published. The literature identified a movement towards the realization of the rights for persons with disabilities in Rwanda since the country signed the UN CRPD. Despite efforts to meet these rights, discrimination against persons with disabilities still exists and greater investment in the disability sector is needed, particularly for justice, social protection, and mental health services. Given the state of the evidence, concerning research gaps also exist in regards to deinstitutionalization and protection issues (i.e., violence and abuse). This consolidation of evidence may help to inform the decision-making priorities for government and civil society organizations in policy and programming and also direct future research.

Mental capacity and states of exception: revisiting disability law with Giorgio Agamben

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) claims a new era of disability rights – a stance that was affirmed when CRPD General Comment 1 provided its authoritative interpretation of CRPD article 12 (Equal recognition before the law). Since the publication of General Comment 1, disagreement about the meaning and significance of article 12 has heightened, particularly in response to its claim for universal legal capacity. The notion of universal legal capacity challenges a fundamental division in the law of modern liberal states – the different treatment of individuals who are unable to participate in the law as rational independent actors. This article draws on the work of Giorgio Agamben to argue that people with disabilities are placed in a ‘state of exception’ where they are subject to exceptional legal regimes. In modern law entry into the state of exception, where people with mental disabilities are exposed to violence and abuse, is triggered by the determination that a person lacks ‘mental capacity.’ This paper argues that the CRPD offers a new approach predicated on equality and inclusion.

Canada’s responses to disability and global development

Canada has taken some positive action in addressing disability in its foreign and development policies, including its long-standing commitments to disabled peoples’ organisations globally, and significant engagement in the drafting process of and subsequent ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). But, ultimately, the lack of a rights-based disability framework in Canada’s global development policies, and the implications of an approach primarily directed to disability prevention and rehabilitation, have combined to make Canada unable to effectively realise its commitments to the CRPD Article 32 on international cooperation.

EQuality: Web Accessibility by People With Cognitive Disabilities

eQuality: The Struggle for Web Accessibility by Persons With Cognitive Disabilities (Blanck, 2014a) examines the right under the Americans with Disabilities Act to web access for people with cognitive disabilities (intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injury, and other conditions). This article continues that line of study examining the full and equal enjoyment (accessibility and usability) of web content by people with cognitive disabilities. I consider definitions, legal challenges, and rights that are discussed more fully in eQuality, and I reflect on new disability law and policy developments in the United States (e.g., Section 508 refresh and web equality case law) and internationally (e.g., developments in CRPD Articles 9 and 12, and European standardization efforts) since eQuality was published.

CRPD Article 12 and the Alternative to Functional Capacity: Preliminary Thoughts Towards Transformation

Legal capacity can be deprived in two ways. A person is assigned the status of a legally incapable person (usually by a formal proceeding in which a guardian is also appointed). Or, a person is denied validity in their exercise of autonomy, particularly in relation to formal legal acts or areas of life where the person’s consent is ordinarily required. The second type of legal capacity deprivation is sometimes rationalized as not being about legal capacity but rather as operation of the doctrine of “mental capacity” or “functional capacity.” The distinction is nonsense. Without an acknowledgement that legal capacity is validly exercised through the person’s own voluntary acts, there is no equality in the enjoyment of legal capacity (as required by CRPD Article 12.2). This is true whether there is a blanket deprivation over a long period of time, or whether it only applies to a single act, and whether the deprivation is pursuant to a court adjudication or is only the determination of a notary, banker or doctor that the person “lacks capacity” to make a particular decision. “Functional capacity,” which has been used to retain the binary system of legal capacity/incapacity, has a definite adverse impact on people with psychosocial disabilities - most significantly as a rationalization for forced psychiatric interventions (which amount to ill-treatment and arguably to torture, and should be subject to an absolute ban, according to the Special Rapporteur on Torture), as well as with respect to the insanity defense or criminal unimputability. In this essay I explore the philosophical underpinnings supporting a thorough and complete rejection of the “functional capacity” doctrine and of all deprivations of legal capacity, examining key issues from a psychosocial disability perspective.

Norms and Implementation of CRPD Article 12

On October 21, 2009, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities held a Day of General Discussion on Article 12, focusing both on clarifying the norms and on exploring challenges to implementation. This article is based on my presentation there, with some later additions.

Jacobus tenBroek, Participatory Justice, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Writing with prescience, Professor Jacobus tenBroek eloquently argued mid-century on behalf of participatory justice for individuals with disabilities. Nothing “could be more essential to personality, social existence, [and] economic opportunity” he determined, “than the physical capacity, the public approval, and the legal right to be abroad in the land.” Some fifty years later, Professor tenBroek’s “right to live in the world” -- the ability of persons with disabilities to have equally meaningful contact with the population at large -- became a central feature of the values underlying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter CRPD, or Convention), the first human rights treaty of the twenty-first century. Accordingly, this Article explores the extent and manner that participatory justice animates the CRPD, first as a general matter and then specifically in reference to Article 30, the provision governing the o! bligations of States Parties to “[p]articipation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport.” Part I sets forth Professor tenBroek’s jurisprudence in regard to participatory justice. Next, Part II highlights aspects of the Convention that are especially notable for their substantive and procedural inclusion of persons with disabilities and reflective of a deeply participatory model of justice that is consistent with Professor tenBroek’s vision. Part III illustrates these assertions by focusing on CRPD Article 30 and its mandate for inclusive cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport, and explains that provision’s practical significance for the worldwide community of persons with disabilities. We conclude with a few reflections on the Convention’s future impact as a vehicle for social change.