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Is childhood a disability? Using Mental Capacity Tribunals and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards to shield children's capacity to consent to and refuse medical treatment
- Author:
- MACKENZIE Robin
- Journal article citation:
- Tizard Learning Disability Review, 19(2), 2014, pp.96-106.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the common and statutory law governing children's capacity or competence to consent to and to refuse medical treatment is unsatisfactory and to suggest solutions. Design/methodology/approach: Critical legal analysis of the law on assessing minors’ decision-making capacity in relation to legal recognition of their consent to and refusal of medical treatment. Findings: Without legal mechanisms which protect both children and their rights, all children and young people are effectively disabled from exercising age and capacity-related autonomy and participation in decisions affecting their lives. Yet in English law, inconsistencies between legal and clinical measures of decision-making capacity, situations where compulsory medical or mental health treatment is lawful, and tensions between rights and duties associated with human rights, autonomy, best interests and protections for the vulnerable create difficulties for clinicians, lawyers and patients. Research limitations/implications: As the paper acknowledges in its recommendations, the views of stakeholders are needed to enrich and inform legal reforms in this area. Originality/value: The paper makes suggestions to amend the law and clinical practice which are original and far reaching. The paper suggests that in order to observe children's rights while protecting them appropriately, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivations of Liberty Safeguards should be applied to minors. The paper recommends the establishment of Mental Capacity Tribunals, similar in nature and purpose to Mental Health Tribunals, to provide legal safeguards and mechanisms to foster the supported decision-making envisaged in recent United Nations Conventions. (Publisher abstract)
Callous/unemotional conduct disorder as a learning disability
- Authors:
- MACKENZIE Robin, WATTS John
- Journal article citation:
- Tizard Learning Disability Review, 14(4), October 2009, pp.40-46.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This article considers cruelty, or the characteristics of children diagnosed with callous/unemotional conduct disorder (CUCD), as being indicative of a learning disability, and how this possible diagnosis might assist patients, their families and health and social service professionals in dealing with the condition, which is often seen as an antecedent to psychopathy in adulthood. Cruelty has often been understood as the result of incurable bad character by those able to distinguish right from wrong. Recent research suggests a way of thinking about it as a form of disability in which people are unable to learn empathy, cognitive social skills and associated behaviour, which qualifies it as a form of learning disability. It is suggested that accepting this classification opens up the possibility that selected interventions might be successful in enabling people to understand, practise and appreciate this behaviour. The article considers both the clinical and legal criteria for categorising CUCD as a learning disability, and describes possible interventions to help children that suffer from its effects.
Supporting aspirations - or not? Recent reforms on equality, the green paper on Special Educational Needs and the potential of a neurodiversity spectrum statement
- Authors:
- MACKENZIE Robin, WATTS John, HOWE Lati
- Journal article citation:
- Tizard Learning Disability Review, 17(1), 2012, pp.36-48.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
The purpose of this paper is to review current legal and policy initiatives focused on special educational needs and equality in England. It discusses issues concerning inclusion of children with special educational needs into mainstream education, and includes contributions from parents about their experience concerning inclusion and statements of special educational needs. It then comments on plans for reform set out in the 2011 Department of Education green paper on special educational needs, covering changes directly affecting schools and pupils with special educational needs, quality of education, and responses to the proposals. It also discusses the potential contribution of a neurodiversity spectrum statement to assess a wide range of characteristics, arguing that this would lead to a holistic approach to assessing differences in learning styles, thinking, communication and behaviour, and adapting teaching to suit these differences.