Disability, Rights and Law Reform in Australia

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has the potential to bring about profound changes to Australia’s legal, political and social systems, affording human rights that have been historically denied to people with disability. This special issue provides a timely forum for critical analysis and reflection on the impact on Australian law of advancements in international human rights law related to disability in the decade since the CRPD entered into force. The articles consider the implementation of supported decision-making in the context of guardianship and administration laws and unfitness to stand trial laws, the criminal justice response to young people with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, the approach taken by disability discrimination laws to students with challenging behaviours, and possibilities for reimagining communication rights informed by the lived experience of disability.

Disability, Rights and Law Reform in Australia is a special issue (Volume 35 No 2) of the journal Law in Context.