Law Society welcomes plan to improve the lives of disabled people

A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People is the Scottish government’s delivery plan for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It sets out 93 actions which the government has committed to take forwards during the current parliamentary term. These include reviewing policies on guardianship and considering circumstances in which supported decision-making can be promoted. The government also plans to work with disabled people and organisations that represent them to develop changes to the Adults with Incapacity Act, in relation to deprivation of liberty, and to assess compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by 2018.

Adrian Ward, convener of the Law Society’s mental health and disability committee, said: “The Scottish government is to be congratulated on the breadth and thoroughness of its ground breaking approach to the challenge of delivering A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People. We are pleased that the government substantially widened the scope of an existing law reform project following our calls for a wider review, and we welcome their commitments in the paper.

“The Mental Health and Disability Committee of the Law Society of Scotland has been at the forefront, nationally and internationally, of work towards implementing the requirements of the UN Convention to recognise the full status in law of all people with intellectual disabilities, and for support - backed by adequate safeguards - in the exercise of their legal capacity.

“We also welcome the Scottish government’s commitment to work with the Law Society of Scotland in promoting a specialism in disability discrimination law. We look forward to continuing to work with the Scottish government towards realising these commitments.”

The Law Society of Scotland Mental Health and Disability Committee’s consultation responses are available at: http://www.lawscot.org.uk/for-the-public/law-reform-consultations-and-bills/consultations-2016/mental-health-and-disability-law/