A Disability-Inclusive Approach to the Right to Decide

May 3, 2013 - Duration 2.75 hrs

Michael Bach, PhD
Executive Vice President
Canadian Association for Community Living
Ontario, Canada

Centuries of confinement and exclusion based on the idea of ‘mental incapacity’ has meant that people with intellectual, cognitive, and psychosocial disabilities are often considered to have a lesser moral and legal status than other human beings.  This presentation will critically examine the traditional formulation of legal capacity, or the right to make decisions about one’s own life, and how the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities writes a new formula for recognizing this fundamental right.

Audio Files Part I (mp3 files)
Audio Files Part II (mp3 files)

Presentation Handouts (PDF Available)

Project Manager: Robyn Carroll
Program Staff: Debbie Mahovetz, Ziba Arjmand
Project Support Staff: Gail DiPane

Robert Wood Johnson Medical School