An empowering dependency: exploring support for the exercise of legal capacity

The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities specifies that people with disabilities have the right to enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others and an accompanying duty of states parties to provide access to support for exercising legal capacity. This article uses moral philosophy to ground a discussion of personhood and supported decision-making. It discusses the cognitive prosthesis model as a possible structure for supported decision-making and identifies the potential strengths and weaknesses of such a system. In particular, it examines the effect dependency relationships will have on supported decision-making. It concludes with four principles for safeguarding the relationship of supported decision-making.