1. { Restoring Voice to People Legal Capacity & Article 12 of the UNCRPD Anna Arstein-Kerslake NUI Galway Brussels Team Meeting November 25, 2011

2.  Clarify definition of Legal Capacity & Article 12  Identify best practices in supported decision-making models  Identify best practices in law reform  Provide recommendations for reform of legal capacity law Goals

3.  What is legal capacity?  Capacity to act (enter into K, marriage, vote, etc.)  Capacity to be a holder of rights  Who has legal capacity?  Personhood  Historical denial of legal capacity (women, 3/5 of a person, etc.)  Debunking the fallacy of rationality  e.g. capacity to consent to sexual relations Defining Legal Capacity

4.  What does Article 12 call for?  Equal recognition under the law  Recognition of legal capacity  Replacement of substituted decision-making systems with supported decision-making systems  Ensuring there are appropriate safeguards and utilization of the least restrictive alternative  The integration of 1 st and 2 nd generation rights in Article 12 Clarifying Article 12

5. Bad Practices in Legal Capacity Law  Status-Based Assessments  Functional Assessments  Outcome-Based Assessments Good Practices in Supported Decision-Making  British Columbia, Canada  Representation Agreements  Germany and Israel  Elimination of determinations of ‘incapacity’  Sweden  Personal Ombudspersons Good and Bad Practices in Legal Capacity Law

6.  Irish Lunacy Act 1871  Indian National Disability Trust Act  UK Mental Capacity Act 2005  US Guardianship Law Lessons in Reform of Legal Capacity Law

7.  Review of literature/legislation/case law  Qualitative interviews with self-advocates and professionals in the field  British Columbia, Canada  Victoria, Australia  Sweden  Germany  Involvement with law reform  India  Ireland  US Methodology