Julia Duffy1
1QUT Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Brisbane, Australia
Traditional liberal theory has founded personhood on autonomy as rationality and independence, so that adults with cognitive disability lie outside the bounds of moral personhood. The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and others have interpreted Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (‘CRPD’) as requiring recognition of universal legal capacity and autonomy. The motive behind this is clear – to ensure that adults with cognitive disabilities are recognised as autonomous so that they are in turn recognised as persons. However, there are other theories of personhood which seek to ‘bring the outliers in’ by disrupting, rather than adhering to the liberal tradition.
This paper formulates a novel conception of ‘five dimensional’ dignity as an inclusive basis for personhood under the CRPD, but potentially more widely. The first dimension acknowledges that dignity recognises the equal worth of all humans and our obligation to treat people as ends, not merely means. The second recognises the importance of autonomy for those who are capable of autonomy. The third identifies the ‘human’ in human dignity as being reflexive, interpersonal and social. The fourth is found in dignity’s recognition of embodied, not just abstract personhood. The fifth dimension recognises the interdependence and indivisibility of human rights: that is, the interdependencies between rights and the equal importance of economic, social and cultural rights with civil and political rights, including the civil and political right to legal capacity.
Keywords: legal capacity – autonomy – dignity- moral personhood – disability – human rights
Biography:
Julia is a lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in government law, policy and as a senior executive. Her roles included Queensland’s Public Guardian and Acting Public Guardian and Executive Director of the Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry. She is currently a legal member of Queensland’s Mental Health Review Tribunal and a member of two Australian Health Practitioner Association regulatory boards. She is completing her PhD dissertation on the indivisibility of human rights and decision making by, with and for adults with cognitive disability.