Disability rights: Will the UN Convention change policy and practice?

Persons with disabilities should be treated with dignity and respect. However, in many parts of the world they have endured inequality, discrimination, mistreatment, and serious social stigma, all of which have a direct impact on their basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. Persons with mental and intellectual disabilities have suffered some of the worst treatment. They have been subjected to involuntary admission and detention in psychiatric facilities and other institutions with little or no oversight. Persons with mental and intellectual disabilities are often excluded from decisions regarding their lives, and their physical and mental health. Furthermore, their right to access and receive mental health care is often ignored. Such circumstances clearly violate human rights principles.

The drafting of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides new opportunities to establish stronger human rights protections for persons with physical, mental, and intellectual disabilities. This Convention establishes norms and legal rights relevant to persons with disabilities around the world. This presentation will highlight some of the ways that the new Convention can and should protect, respect, and fulfill the human rights of persons with disabilities. In addition, the ongoing limitations of human rights law to change disability policy and practice will be evaluated.