Preventing Abuse and Providing Access to Justice for Individuals with Complex Communication Needs: The Role of Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Abstract

Individuals with disabilities, in particular those with complex communication needs, have an increased risk of falling victim to crimes such as abuse and violence. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) highlights the human rights that all persons should enjoy. It recognizes the importance of communication, not only as a basic human right that is essential to ensure one's protection and one's participation in all spheres of life, but also as an essential human need through which opinions, thoughts, emotions, and points of view can be shared. This article will address four specific articles of the CRPD that are essential for preventing abuse (including sexual abuse) and for providing access to justice for these at-risk individuals. These are: Article 6 (Women with Disabilities); Article 16 (Freedom from Exploitation, Violence and Abuse); Article 12 (Equal Recognition before the Law); and Article 13 (Access to Justice). Seven South African studies that focused on these four articles will be described in terms of their aims, methods, results, and clinical implications.

Giving voice to the voices of legal practitioners with disabilities

“…One human right pertaining to persons with disability that has been well researched in recent years is access to justice (Benedet and Grant 2012;Bornman 2017;Cremin 2016;Flynn 2016;Flynn and Lawson 2013;Hepner et al 2015;O'Leary and Feely 2018;Ortoleva 2011;Talbot 2012;White et al 2020a). The research focused on different stakeholder groups such as persons with disabilities as victims (Bornman et al 2011;Cusack 2017;Kuosmanen and Starke 2015;Lumsden and Black 2020;Marinos et al 2014;White, Bornman, and Johnson 2015) and as witnesses ( Beckene, Forrester-Jones, and Murphy 2017;Hepner, Woodward, and Stewart 2015;Nair 2009;O'Leary and Feely 2018;Pillay 2012;Ziv 2007) and, to a lesser extent, on persons with disabilities as perpetrators and defendants (Gooding et al 2017;Hayes 2007;O'Mahony 2012;Talbot 2012).…”