A Fair Say? Helping people with learning disabilities find access to justice

Citation

Goodall K & MacIntyre G (2011) A Fair Say? Helping people with learning disabilities find access to justice. EqualSay. www.equalsay.org/documents/final%20report%20aug%202011.doc.

Abstract
There was a time not so long ago when people with learning disabilities were cared for in hospitals, sometimes for the whole of their lives. Care, however, is not freedom. In the early years of the 21st century, people with learning disabilities have been moved back into their communities as a result of the deinstitutionalisation of long-stay hospitals. The closure programme of long stay hospitals and the migration of people from institutions to living as citizens in ordinary communities coincided with the formation of the Scottish Parliament, a new legislative body for Scotland. The Scottish Parliament's first major legislative act was the Adults with Incapacity Act, which clarified arcane laws about how we deal with people who lack capacity to act on their own behalf. This law and the other two pieces of social policy legislation (Mental Health (Care & Treatment) Act 2003 and the Adult Support and Protection Act 2007) were all based on important principles that were designed to balance the rights of individuals affected by the legislation with the needs of society in general. Although each of the three Acts (often referred to as the ‘suite' of social policy legislation) differ in their approach and have slightly differing principles, there is a cast-iron similarity about the protective intention of the principles regarding - any intervention being of benefit to the individual - any intervention being the least restrictive of those available This ‘suite' of legislation may be pertinent to the general population at some point in their lives, but for people with learning disabilities it may be something that applies for the whole of their lives. However, we wanted to look at the law in general and whether people with learning disabilities were receiving the support and opportunity to have their rights protected. We also examined the role of paid and volunteer lay advocates, to understand their role and function and whether advocacy was effective in helping people have their rights upheld.