The law as a source of stigma or empowerment: Legal capacity and persons with intellectual disabilities

While the law is generally portrayed as a tool to combat stigma, outdated legal institutions continue to reinforce negative stereotypes about persons with intellectual disabilities. This chapter describes how guardianship is based on misconceptions regarding the abilities of persons with disabilities and how these false assumptions lead to abuse and denials of autonomy. Supported decision-making is presented as an alternative approach that does not deny the agency of persons with disabilities and in fact leads to strengthening their skills. In order to replace guardianship with supported decision-making, large-scale social reform is necessary in which the law can play an important part. The widely ratified Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides impetus for such legal reform.