The Introduction summarises the core themes of the book and outlines how the argument will proceed over the course of its chapters. It explains why the issue it centres around – namely, how the law grapples with the impact of mental disorder on decision-making – is so important, and why successfully navigating the tension between respect for (and deference to) idiosyncratic values, and protection from disorder or impairment, must be a precondition of England and Wales adopting ‘fused’ mental capacity and health legislation, or a more CRPD-compliant statutory framework. It also explains how the book relates to the existing literature in this area, which has focused in recent years on concerns about the binary nature of the capacity framework, and on the individualistic and rational ‘liberal subject’ on which this framework rests. Finally, it elaborates briefly on some of the concepts which the book will draw upon, in particular what is meant by ‘values’ and ‘beliefs’.

This chapter evaluates what the international and European human rights frameworks can offer, in terms of standard setting and avenues for international legal development and protection, to those irregular migrants who experience either mental health difficulties or have a psychosocial disability. The analysis in this chapter extends the normative frames of references to encompass ‘disability’, which is reconceptualised in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a transformative status and a human rights argument. This chapter triangulates human rights, public health and disability-sensitive arguments to assess the relations between mental health and human rights in the context of irregular migration in human rights law and jurisprudence. While the European Court of Human Rights’ deportation cases concerning people with mental health issues tend to reflect an overall emergency-oriented and predominantly biomedical approach to mental health, several UN human rights treaty bodies set out a more holistic conceptualisation of mental health and psychosocial disability. The latter approach promotes non-discriminatory psychosocial interventions to guarantee access to community-based mental health care services and the underlying determinants of mental health for everyone regardless of migration status.

MNCs have a central role, responsibility, and opportunity to foment change globally in fulfilling the rights of persons with disabilities. In addition to improving theiremployment practices, MNCs can leverage their economic power to fulfil other aspects of the human rights of persons with disabilities within their purview by: making physical and virtual environments accessible; ensuring that vendors, distributors and supply chains require equal employment opportunity for workers with a disability, produce accessible products and services, and take affirmative actions to employ and advance in employment workers with a disability; acknowledging the existence and value of customers with disabilities and their households and friends; marketing to such individuals; developing data accumulation and accountability instruments, including human rights impact assessments (HRIAs); and creating a general culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion of differences that includes disability. Acting in this manner would bolster rarely helpful corporate social responsibility (CSR) and diversity schemes, and position the business sector to become human rights change agents.

This chapter’s purpose is to summarize and analyze current states of the rights of persons with disabilities and the nexus of these rights with mental health and psychosocial well-being, particularly focusing on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It describes the key rights in CRPD and analyzes the interrelationship between CRPD and SDGs. The chapter also presents the history of global efforts to protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities as well as recent and current developments. Persons with disabilities, including persons with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities, have faced numerous barriers and violations of human rights for a long time. The adoption of CRPD, coupled with SDGs and other key global agreements, provides great momentum for realizing their rights. The chapter concludes that respecting diversity, eliminating social barriers (including attitudinal ones), being attentive to the silent majority and minorities and reaching out to unheard voices, enabling supportive environment where individuals support each other based on needs instead of their attributes, and establishing and incorporating indicators pertaining to mental health and well-being into the monitoring efforts of sustainable development, peace and security, and overall human rights together with mental health perspectives are critical.

This chapter will analyse how international legal norms have approached the regulation of ability equality in one area of life: exercising the right to work. The regulation of labour rights has traditionally been the province of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The ILO has been the primary source of international labour law since its formation 100 years ago in the Treaty of Versailles. Section I of this chapter will analyse how the ILO has approached ability diversity at work and then Section II will show how the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), with its disability human rights paradigm and statement on the right to work and employment, has transformed how international law regulates the rights of persons with disabilities to work.

Chapter 11 traces the development of EU legislation concerning non-discrimination on the grounds of disability. The chapter examines the key concepts of ‘direct discrimination’, ‘indirect discrimination’, the ‘burden of proof’ and ‘causation’. The chapter provides an overview of the key legislative enactment regulating disability discrimination within the EU, the Employment Equality Directive. In addition, it examines the case law of the CJEU relating to disability discrimination pre- and post-CRPD. The chapter highlights that, under the influence of the CRPD, the CJEU’s case law demonstrates a shift from the medical model to the social model of disability. Finally, the chapter reflects on the Commission’s proposal for a new non-discrimination directive.

This chapter introduces the reader to the textbook and to the novelties and intricacies inherent to international and European disability law and policy. In that regard, the chapter begins with an overview of the developments that led to the emergence of disability law as an academic discipline. Thereafter, the chapter briefly discusses how the language of disability has changed over time. It then goes on to provide an account of the aims and objectives of this textbook, and it outlines the guiding perspective and the methodological approach adopted in the book. Finally, the chapter ends with an outline of the structure of the textbook as a whole.

Chapter 3 examines the negotiation process that lead to the adoption of the CRPD and provides a general overview of the innovative features of the Convention. It critically discusses the structure and core substantive rights of the CRPD, as well as its general obligations and general principles. In addition to analysing the role played by data collection and international cooperation in advancing disability rights, the chapter examines the role of the CRPD Committee in protecting and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities and in enhancing compliance with the CRPD globally. The chapter also explores the national monitoring and implementation system provided for in the Convention, including the role of the focal point and coordination mechanism. Finally, the role of bodies such as the UN Human Rights Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in advancing the implementation of the CRPD are briefly discussed.

Chapter 1 explores the various theoretical models of disability that have been delineated by scholars in the field. The chapter traces the evolution from the medical model of disability, which focused on the individual’s impairment, to the social and social-contextual models of disability. The United Nations Convention on the Rights or Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) endorses a social-contextual model of disability, which lays emphasis on the interaction between impairment and environmental, legislative and attitudinal barriers. In addition, the chapter analyses the key features of the human rights model of disability that underpins the CRPD. The chapter also explores the core and cross-cutting themes that have become the cornerstone of current disability law at the international and European levels, and it demonstrates the role of the CRPD as the roadmap of global disability policy.

This chapter introduces the reader to the textbook and to the novelties and intricacies inherent to international and European disability law and policy. In that regard, the chapter begins with an overview of the developments that led to the emergence of disability law as an academic discipline. Thereafter, the chapter briefly discusses how the language of disability has changed over time. It then goes on to provide an account of the aims and objectives of this textbook, and it outlines the guiding perspective and the methodological approach adopted in the book. Finally, the chapter ends with an outline of the structure of the textbook as a whole.

Chapter 2 highlights the gaps that existed in the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities before the CRPD came onto the international human rights landscape. It also traces the principal disability-related developments that have occurred within the UN from the early 1970s to the present day. In doing so, it explores the evolution of the UN disability protection from a charity-based approach to a human rights model of disability. The chapter also provides an overview of the work of several UN bodies and agencies in the field disability, by analysing the role of the UN itself and some of its agencies, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), in promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.

Chapter 10 highlights the key turning points in the history of disability policy in the EU and discusses the main tenets of the current EU legislative and policy action to protect, promote and ensure the rights of persons with disabilities. The chapter focuses on the current European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and discusses its core elements. It then briefly examines the European Pillar of Social Rights and its features from a disability perspective. The chapter, then, considers the ratification of the CRPD and the effects that the Convention has in the EU legal order. Finally, the chapter briefly discusses Brexit and the consequences that the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU will have on the rights of people with disabilities in the Britain.