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It’s been hard to know what to say about the Supreme Court’s ruling on the meaning of ‘deprivation of liberty’ in Re AGNI, and its consequences for people experiencing restriction and confinement in health and social care settings. There is so much that could be said about it, that it’s been hard to know where…
Today the UK Supreme Court handed down a ruling on the meaning of deprivation of liberty for people deemed to lack the mental capacity to consent to their care arrangements. In 2014 in Cheshire West the Supreme Court created an ‘acid test’: a person is considered deprived of their liberty if they are subject to…
János Fiala-Butoria is a lawyer and academic at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, NUI Galway. He is a human rights attorney with extensive experience in representing persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities and persons deprived of their liberty before the European Court of Human Rights, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities…
From 6 April 2026, private providers of care and treatment for mental health patients, paid for or arranged by the NHS, will be required to act compatibly with their human rights and can be held accountable under the Human Rights Act 1998 if they do not. Section 51 of the Mental Health Act 2025 will…
This blog post features a review of this book by learning disability campaigner, Simon Cramp. I will give you the publisher’s description of Stephen Unwin’s book first, and then Simon’s review. Wildfire, an imprint of Headline Publishing (Hachette) write this about Beautiful Lives: A vital, pragmatic and deeply personal history of humanity’s interaction with those…
As you may have heard, in October the UK Supreme Court will her a case that will re-open consideration of what it means to be ‘deprived of your liberty’ if you may lack the mental capacity to consent to your care arrangements. It will re-visit some of the issues considered by the Supreme Court in…
Supported decision-making has a long and proud history in the UK. You could probably take this history back further, but in around the 1970s a small organisation called the ‘Campaign for Mentally Handicapped People’ (CMH) brought together professionals, families and learning disabled people who wanted to see people with learning disabilities living (as the King’s…
The Mental Health Bill reaches its second reading in the House of Lords tonight. This is a quick post to explain why it won’t stop the detention of autistic people and people with learning disabilities. If you want all the footnotes and references, then please take a look at this briefing I wrote about it…
It’s been a while… sorry! The Mental Health Bill 2024 is now before Parliament, its second reading is on Monday 25th November, and Parliamentarians will be able to discuss it and table amendments. One amendment I think we need to see: an amendment to ensure that the human rights of mental health patients, and other…
It’s election time again, hurray! I love elections, even if the outcome breaks my heart. I love standing in the queue to vote, I love the feeling of doing something alongside the rest of the country, being part of a national exercise in democracy. I love looking at the leaflets that come through the door,…