Our regular panel comments on a topic in the news.
It is more than a decade since the Law Commission recommended changes in the law that states when, and in what circumstances, someone can step in to take decisions on behalf of an adult with mental incapacity. Government proposals for legal reform were set out in 1999, but the promised legislative changes have yet to be made. In the meantime, the government has settled for issuing draft guidance, which has split the learning difficulties community in two, with user-run organisation People First saying it gives too much power to carers and professionals, while Mencap claims that, on the contrary, it will not take users' rights away. People First would like to see more support for people with learning difficulties to take their own decisions, including encouraging self-advocacy. It says the guidance is inaccessible to people with learning difficulties, for which the Lord Chancellor's Department blames lack of time and money. Mencap says there should be a legal framework to enable others to take "substitute" decisions on behalf of people with dementia or severe learning difficulties.
Julia Ross, executive director for health and social care, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
"Whenever will we learn? Most people are very capable of making their own decisions with the right support. Different people at different ages and in different circumstances need more or less support. It's as simple as that, and not acceptable any longer for any public sector body to blame lack of time or money for treating any citizen less equally."
Felicity Collier, chief executive, British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering
"We should never underestimate the capacity of anybody to make their views known about issues that will affect their lives, so we should never take away anybody's rights in this regard. We have all been guilty through impatience or discriminatory views of people with learning difficulties to fail to respect the fact that whatever limitations they may have in understanding or communicating what they feel, they have a right to be heard. Advocacy schemes have provided powerful evidence of the extent to which people with learning difficulties can understand what is being discussed. We have a way to go in properly implementing these obligations but it is something that we must not fail to do.
Martin Green, chief executive, Counsel and Care for the Elderly
"The issue of how you establish people's capacity to make decisions affecting their lives is a very complex area and will inevitably lead to controversy. I welcome the moves to clarify and improve the process, but there are grey areas. The rules should be weighted in favour of the individual and every effort must be made to enable people with learning difficulties to make decisions that affect them."
Bob Hudson, principal research fellow, Nuffield Institute for Health, University of Leeds
"If the long-established precepts of 'an ordinary life' are to have real meaning, then this must include the rights of people with learning difficulties to be treated within the law in the same way as other citizens. Of course, there may come a point where people cannot make their own decisions properly, but this should be a final step when all other avenues of communication and support have been exhausted. The Lord Chancellor's Department is not setting the best example in these respects."
Bill Badham, programme manager, Children's Society
"All people, regardless of impairment, are able and should have a right to participate in the matters that concern them. So what's the fuss? A legal framework might be good news to stop unwarranted intrusion. To take a different example, parents, of course, have a legal responsibility for their children, and carers and professionals must take account of children's best interests, their views and wishes. The problem is that this takes will and skill, not more legislative power for the powerful."
