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What about us? a case for legal recognition of interdependence in informal care relationships
- Author:
- CLOUGH Beverley
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 36(2), 2014, pp.129-148.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
As the number of people being cared for by relatives and friends rises, it is vitally important to examine whether legal frameworks surrounding care and treatment sufficiently account for the realities of informal caring. This paper undertakes such an analysis through the lens of care ethics, arguing that relational and contextual aspects of caring ought to be brought further to the fore. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 forms the central focus of criticism and it is suggested that the legislation and case law surrounding best interests decisions fails to heed the interdependence which permeates informal caring. In contrast to earlier care theories, however, the importance of retaining a focus on the rights and capabilities of individuals within the web of caring relationships is emphasised. (Publisher abstract)
Disability and vulnerability: challenging the capacity/incapacity binary
- Author:
- CLOUGH Beverley
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Society, 16(3), 2017, pp.469-481.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
This article engages with emerging debates in law and feminist philosophy around the concept of vulnerability. Central to this is the call to re-imagine and re-frame vulnerability as universal – as something which is experienced by all individuals, by virtue of their humanity and context as social beings. The implications of this for laws and policies predicated on groups or categories as ‘being vulnerable’ will be explored in this article, using the concept of mental capacity as an example of how the boundary between capacity and incapacity can be contested through this lens. The article will critically consider the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated literature, such as Court of Protection cases, the House of Lords Select Committee's post-legislative scrutiny and Serious Case Reviews, which demonstrate the growing concern about the inadequacy of the binary between capacity and incapacity. This in turn provokes a challenge to accepted wisdom in the context of disability more broadly, inviting us to think in particular about the responses to perceived vulnerability that are currently deemed appropriate. Insights from the legal literature invite further exchanges with social policy theorists as to the concept of vulnerability and its challenges and implications for law and policy. (Publisher abstract)