People with intellectual disabilities are promised the same rights to control their own lives as everyone else by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. They are also promised the support needed to make this a reality. Supported decision-making is one way of doing that. Co-decision-making is another. But how can these be arranged in practice?
Your abilities to assert and achieve what you want may already be limited, or may become less in future. How can you ensure that you will be involved as much as possible in decisions about you, your welfare and your assets? The Convention says that your own will and preferences must be respected. How can you best ensure that that will happen?
Powers of attorney (POA) are a well-established technique, but leading-edge developments with POAs can also encompass supported decision-making and/or co-decision-making arrangements. You need to be sure that you want to do this, and that your chosen attorney would be suitable for this role. If so, as well as the other terms of appointment, you could appoint your attorney to be your supporter. You could require your chosen attorney to provide all reasonable support to you in acting, deciding, and formulating your will and preferences; and in communicating all of these. You could state that your attorney's decision will be definitive (except where shown to be manifestly incorrect) about:
- What are your competent acts and decisions
- What is the best interpretation of your will and preferences
- Whether you have been put under undue influence
Under co-decision-making, the joint decision of you and your attorney will always be valid, because it will be deemed to be your decision so far as you are competent and the attorney's decision on your behalf if you are not.
Provisions along these lines carry the assurance of being registrable with the Public Guardian when prepared by our expert team.
For more information or advice on supported decision-making, please get in touch with our approachable, experienced team.
