The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Social Work: Evidence for Impact?

Pearse McCusker; Lauren Gillespie; Gavin Davidson; Sarah Vicary; Kevin Stone

doi:10.3390/ijerph20206927

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Social Work: Evidence for Impact?

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Oct 16;20(20):6927. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20206927.

Authors

Pearse McCusker¹, Lauren Gillespie^{1

2}, Gavin Davidson³, Sarah Vicary⁴, Kevin Stone⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Social and Political Science, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9LD, UK.
² Advanced Care Research Centre, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH16 4UX, UK.
³ School of Social Sciences Education and Social Work, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK.
⁴ School of Health Wellbeing and Social Care, Faculty of Wellbeing Education and Languages, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.
⁵ Centre for Lifelong Learning, The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereafter CRPD) has provided a radical imperative for the reform of mental health and capacity legislation around the world. The interpretation of the CRPD has been controversial, ranging from the complete abolition of detention, forcible treatment, and substitute decision-making to accepting that elements of these measures need to be retained based on non-discriminatory criteria, additional safeguards, and a comprehensive shift towards supported decision-making. While the potential effects of the CRPD on mental health social work and social work generally are considerable given their shared commitment towards social justice, to date there has been no review of research evidence exploring their relationship. In addressing this knowledge gap, this study held a preliminary discussion with practitioners and academics at the European Association of Social Work Mental Health Special Interest Group in Amsterdam 2022, followed by a scoping literature review on the question: What impact, if any, has the CRPD had on social work practice? The review produced four main findings: impact on legislation; positive impact on practice; limited impact on practice; and impact on social work education and research. In sum, while there were some positive indications of social work and mental health social work practice being influenced by the CRPD, these were scant. Barriers to change included tendencies among some social workers to practise substitute decision-making, in part related to resourcing and policy contexts, and understandings of disability aligned to individualised/medical rather than social perspectives. The results indicate that legal reform on its own is insufficient to impact social work practice, and that realising the potential of the CRPD will necessitate good quality training, as well as improving social workers' knowledge of the human rights of people with mental impairment.

Keywords: United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD/CRPD); human rights; mental health and capacity law reform; mental health social work practice; social model of disability; social work practice; supported decision-making.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Disabled Persons*
Humans
Mental Disorders* / therapy
Mental Health
Social Work
United Nations

Grants and funding

L.G.’s role in this research was funded by the Legal & General Group (research grant to establish the independent Advanced Care Research Centre at The University of Edinburgh). The funders had no role in the conduct of the study, interpretation, or the decision to submit it for publication. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Legal & General.