Edinburgh Napier University

  Even so-called human rights-based mental health and capacity legislation has tended to exclusively focus on authorising and regulating non-consensual interventions and pays little or no attention to the wider needs of persons with mental disabilities. This runs contrary to the message of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and was a main driver for the recent independent review of Scottish mental health and capacity law (Scott Review 2019-2022). Reporting in September 2022 the Scott Review’s recommendations fell under three key themes of strengthening the voice of persons with mental disabilities, reducing coercion and securing rights to appropriate support. It sought to provide an aspirational but workable basis for achieving CRPD alignment proposing a new model for mental health and capacity law which expands the purpose of such law and is centred on the concepts of Human Rights Enablement, Supported Decision Making and Autonomous Decision Making. This paper will consider these concepts and how they may form the basis for CRPD alignment including securing an individual’s autonomy and ability to live an independent life.