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Back to: Guide to Ad Hoc Committee Documents Article 9 : Equal Recognition As A Person Before the LawInformation SheetPrepared by the International Disability Caucus
Supported Decision- Making vs. Guardianship Guardianship is an ancient mechanism that was constructed without consulting people with disabilities. Guardianship laws assume that some people do not have the capacity to make legally binding decisions. We invite the Ad Hoc Committee to adopt a paradigm shift in which everyone has an equal legal capacity, without distinction based on disability. Supported Decision-Making means a person may accept help in making decisions without relinquishing the right to make decisions. In supported decision-making, freedom of choice is never violated. Supported decision-making does not question the wisdom of a person’s choices but allows everyone the dignity of risk. Supported Decision-Making helps a person to understand information and make decisions based on his or her own preferences. A person with a learning disability might need help with reading, or may need support in focusing attention to make a decision. A person who has no verbal communication might have a trusted family member who interprets their non-verbal communications, such as positive or negative physical reactions, or uses Alternative and Augmentative Communication. Guardianship laws theoretically protect people with disabilities from abuse but in practice they open the door to abuse. Guardianship facilitates institutionalization; the guardian can easily give consent even when the person opposes being institutionalized. One decision by the authorities and a person loses the right to decide where to live, loses the right to vote, the right to choose who to marry, the right to start a business. This results in living in a humiliating and degrading way. Supported decision-making
Guardianship
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