The Right to Make Choices: International Laws and Decision-Making by People with Disabilities

ASAN has released a new toolkit discussing supported decision-making (SDM) and guardianship, and the many different laws pertaining to both in the United States and internationally. The toolkit is called “The Right to Make Choices: International Laws and Decision-Making by People with Disabilities.” The toolkit will help self-advocates, policymakers, providers, and families understand how laws can make it easier or more difficult for people with disabilities to exercise the right to manage their own lives.

The toolkit discusses:

• Supported decision-making and how it increases the independence of people with disabilities;
• guardianship and how it limits people with disabilities’ choices;
• the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, a international law that ensures people with disabilities have choices; and
• The state of the law on guardianship and SDM in the United States, Bulgaria, UK, Sweden, Canada and Israel