A new book called Mental Capacity, Dignity and the Power of International Human Rights has been written by Dr Julia Duffy (pictured, above), Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Health Law Research (ACHLR) in the QUT Faculty of Business and Law.
About the book
Personhood, in liberal philosophical and legal traditions, has long been grounded in the idea of autonomy and the right to legal capacity. However, in this book, Julia Duffy questions these assumptions and shows how such beliefs exclude and undermine the rights of adults with cognitive disability. Instead, she reinterprets the right to legal capacity through the principle of the interdependence and indivisibility of human rights. In doing so, she compellingly argues that dignity and not autonomy ought to be the basis of personhood. Using illustrative case studies, Duffy demonstrates that the key human rights values of autonomy, dignity and equality can only be achieved by fulfilling a range of interdependent human rights. With this innovative book challenging common assumptions about human rights and personhood, Duffy leads the way in ensuring civil, economic, political, social, and cultural inclusion for adults with cognitive disabilities.
Mental Capacity, Dignity and the Power of International Human Rights is available now in Hardback and eBook formats from Cambridge University Press.
About Dr Julia Duffy
Julia Duffy is a Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Health Law Research (ACHLR). She writes and publishes in the areas of cognitive disability, decision-making and human rights law and theory and provides research and consultancy services to government and non-government agencies on supported decision-making and related areas.
Dr Duffy has been a member of two health practitioner regulatory boards, a legal member of Queensland’s Mental Health Review Tribunal and was for many years a member of the board of Family Planning Queensland.
You can find out more about Dr Julia Duffy and her research on the ACHLR website.
