In 2014, The United Nation's Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities published an official General Comment on the UNCRPD. This says that all legal rules that rely on the concept of mental incapacity deny people with disabilities 'equal recognition before the law', and are discriminatory. To avoid this breach of human rights, said the Committee, all legal regimes that involve the appointment of substitute decision-makers – to act for people said to lack capacity – must be abolished. In this paper, I will contest these unhelpful claims.
Presenter: John Dawson