Citation

Keywood K. Int. J. Law Psychiatry 2017; 53: 88-96.

Affiliation

University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijlp.2017.05.011

PMID

28666543

Abstract

This article explores the intersection of English adult protection law and policy as it impacted on the lives of people with mental disabilities. It evaluates developments that were premised on the notion of the 'vulnerable adult', in light of recent theoretical interrogation of vulnerability and the normative shifts in law and policy advocated by the UNCRPD. I argue that the policy and legal conceptions of vulnerability developed in England and Wales, if reworked, have the potential to transform our understanding of what it is to be vulnerable into a more radical and socially-grounded framework for adult safeguarding. This article concludes with some reflections on what further conceptual and policy work must be done in order to effect that transformation.

Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Abuse; Mental disability; Neglect; Safeguarding: Adult protection; Vulnerability