Anna Nilsson, Compulsory Mental Health Interventions and the CRPD: Minding Equality (Hart Publishing, 2021, xi + 186pp, £67.50) ISBN 97815099315 76 (hb)

Abstract

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (‘CRPD’) is the first international human rights treaty to recognize rights specifically for disabled people. It has been heralded as revolutionary in creating a ‘paradigm shift’ in how disability is understood within law. The CRPD moves away from a medical model of disability (which focuses on the individual’s limitations) to a social model of disability (which focuses on social barriers and how they can be alleviated to better promote the rights of disabled people.) Nilsson rightly points out that much of the originality of the CRPD’s approach rests with its focus on equal treatment and non-discrimination (pp 12–14). One of the areas in which disabled people are still discriminated against is in the context of compulsory mental health treatment. The presence of a psychosocial disability is still used in the majority of domestic mental health laws to justify compulsion. This includes where an individual is refusing treatment a professional believes they require and the person either lacks decision making ability, or there is a risk of self harm, harm to others, serious deterioration in health or a combination of these factors (pp 45–49). Therefore, one of the questions dominating CRPD implementation is if and when compulsory treatment is justified under the CRPD.