Administrative justice? Realising the right to independent living in England: power, systems, identities

Abstract

Under Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, disabled people have a right to live independently and to be included in the community. This article considers the potential for realisation of that right through the English administrative justice system. It discusses models of administrative justice, and examines practical examples of the exercise of discretionary power in social care decision-making, administration and delivery. While some aspects of the current reconstruction in social care provision have succeeded in producing emancipatory outcomes, examples of continuing oppressive use of discretionary power still occur: in decision making, in the design of assessment questionnaires and in the assessment experience. The article concludes that there is further to go before practice is aligned with meaningful, Convention-compliant change. Until then, realisation in England of the right to independent living will remain partial, and the emancipatory purpose of the Convention compromised.

Keywords::

• Administrative justice
• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• independent living
• discretionary power
• identity

Acknowledgements

This article is based on a chapter of my PhD thesis: T. Collingbourne (2013). Realising disability rights? Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in England – a critical analysis. Thesis (PhD). University of Sheffield, UK). Retrieved from: http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/3904

Notes

^1. Full copies of both the ADASS and the anonymised Council questionnaire are available in Collingbourne (2013, Appendix 2).