How do we formulate the duties to ensure people have supports to maximize exercise and enjoyment of their autonomy and legal capacity? There are two broad classes of parties implicitly and explicitly identified in the language of the CRPD. First, States Parties have an obligation to take “appropriate measures to provide access by persons with disabilities to the support they may require in exercising their legal capacity” (Article 12(3)). Second, States Parties have an obligation to “take all appropriate steps to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided” (Article 5(3)). The latter obligation also implicates third parties to decision-making processes. How do these obligations of both States Parties and other third parties intersect in a particular decision-making process to maximize exercise of legal capacity? What is the positive duty of the state? What is the duty of third parties?
In this section we articulate the legal duties to accommodate of both the state and third parties in relation to supports. The accommodation and supports framework described in this section is somewhat novel but builds upon the firm foundation of Canada’s human rights laws and the Charter. In order to implement this framework, relevant provisions would need to be incorporated into all legal capacity-specific legislation and apply to all interactions where capacity is in question.
A. What Does Accommodation in Decision Making Mean?
People plan their lives on the basis that they have a right to live as they choose. In contrast, an individual who has been found to be legally incapable does not have the freedom to make his/her personal choices; decisions are imposed by others. Reasonable accommodation is required to avoid such differential treatment. It maximizes a person’s right to prove his/her ability to make capable decisions, demonstrate his/her capacity to others and thus exercise legal capacity on an equal basis with others.
Accommodation can be relevant whenever an individual interacts with a third party. An individual with an intellectual disability may not, at the outset, understand the content of the information exchange between him/herself and the third party. For example, he/she may not understand the attendant risks of a medical procedure, the implications of opening a bank account or the meaning of a power of attorney. There are a broad range of accommodations that may be required to enable a person to understand information sufficiently to make these kinds of decisions, including:
· informal assistance from family and friends;
· plain language assistance, assisted/adaptive communication, visual aids, etc.;
· supported decision-making representatives/networks; and,
· interpreters (sign and spoken language) and intervenors (for people who are deaf-blind).
What follows are two illustrations of the manner in which supports accommodate a person to make her own decisions, without which she might be unable to do so. These scenarios relate to Jane, who has an intellectual disability.
· Jane would like her mother to do her banking for her. For her mother to have the legal authority to do so in Ontario, Jane could make a power of attorney but would need to meet the legal test of capacity to do so. This would require her to understand what a power of attorney is and what the implications are of making one. If, at the outset, a lawyer asks Jane what a power of attorney is and what the effect of making one is, the lawyer may conclude that she does not meet the test of capacity to make one. This is because, when in the lawyer’s office, Jane feels intimidated by a person of authority, is not able to explain a power of attorney in her own words, looks at the lawyer blankly and prefers to talk about her upcoming vacation. In general, Jane expresses herself using words and gestures that strangers do not know how to interpret, but which are meaningful and clear to people who know her well. It is likely that if her best friend explains the concept of a power of attorney in language that she understands, and does so at her pace in non-intimidating surroundings, she will learn the meaning and implications of the document. In this way, accessing supports provides her with the vehicle to exercise and demonstrate her capacity. The supports accommodate her to make decisions equally with others.
· Jane’s doctor believes she needs a medical procedure. Providing accommodation in the form of supports may require the doctor to give her some written material in plain language which explains the procedure and its risks and benefits. If Jane takes it home and spends some time reviewing it, she may come to a point where her understanding of the procedure is sufficient to make her own decision. Without material in plain language and the benefit of time, Jane might not understand the procedure. Without these accommodations, the docto