Disability and the Law
The Protection of Rights
People with a disability have many of the same rights as everyone else in our society. They can use the same legal and non-legal remedies if those rights are infringed. They (or their representatives) can take action in the usual way to protect their rights (for example, for privacy, sexual relat...
Consumer Protection
Where a person with an intellectual disability has made an unwise contract or gift, the law can assist in a number of ways. Incapacity A person who lacks general understanding of the nature and effect of a contract or gift is said by the law to have ‘incapacity’. In deciding whether incapacity ...
Other Ways to Exercise Rights
Other avenues are available to people with disabilities (or a friend or relative) to exercise their rights. The media: current affairs shows are keen to expose consumer rip-offs, especially where someone such as a person with an intellectual disability has been taken advantage of; The Off...
The Criminal Justice System
A person with an intellectual disability may become involved with the criminal justice system as a victim of crime, as a person accused of a crime, or merely as a witness. While the former are the two main areas of concern, some of the same problems may occur in all cases. For example, does the p...
Page last updated 13/12/2017