Disability and law

The categories of vulnerability and discrimination reveal particularly relevant within disability studies. The latter shed light on the phenomenon of “vulnerabilisation” of given legal entities by means of the traditional tools of Legal Theory (e.g. legal capacity and legal capacity to act). By combining vulnerability studies with those on intersectionality, there opens up the possibility of rethinking subjectivity behind persons with disabilities: in this regard, crucial sparks emerge from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) of 2006, as well as generally speaking from the so called “social model”. Rethinking subjectivity forces to rethink the rights standard, based both on an inclusive idea of human dignity and on the relevance of material bodies. By means of these approaches, there emerges also the possibility of rethinking intellectual and psychosocial disability issues underlying psychical suffering as a state of vulnerability. This calls for dealing carefully with the peculiar tool of “social dangerousness”, which is likely to lead – as is the case for compulsory mental health treatment – to a violation of human rights of persons with disabilities.