Dr Simon Duffy gave this talk at a seminar organised by the Erasmus+ funded project the SDS Network which shares expertise on self-directed support globally. The talk explains why human and disability rights support a shift towards Self-Directed Support.

1. Dr Simon Du
ff
y | Centre for Welfare Reform & Citizen Network
Human Rights
and Self-Directed Support

8. Article 1 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights states:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and
should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
The
fi
rst principle de
fi
ned by the UN Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is:
Respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy including
the freedom to make one’s own choices, and
independence of persons.

9. Disability Rights = Human Rights

10. Relevant frameworks in Europe
Interconnected set of commitments
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)
• European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
• Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR)
• European Social Charter (ESC)
• European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR)
• Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-30

11. 6 key themes
Important to our approach to SDS
1. Right to Support
2. Right to Freedom
3. Right to Participation
4. Right to Independent Living and Inclusion
5. Right to Responsibility
6. Right to Accountability
#UNICproject

12. 1 + 1 + 1 = 3
No Explicit Right to
Self-Directed Support, but…

13. self-directed support

14. self-directed support

15. Getting the help we need
• Article 4.1 full realisation
• Article 10 right to life
• Article 19b access to services
• Is there some hesitancy about a
right to help?
• What about waiting lists, means-
testing and austerity?
1. Support

16. self-directed support

18. Doing your own thing
• Article 9 access - getting in
• Article 14 liberty - not in prison
• Article 18 movement - borders
• Article 20 mobility - wheelchairs+
• Article 22 privacy - no intereference
• What about, plans and goals?
2. Freedom

19. self-directed support

21. Playing your part
• Article 24 education
• Article 25 health
• Article 27 work
• Article 28 income
• Article 29 politics
• Article 30 culture and sport
• What about poverty?
3. Participation

22. self-directed support

26. Independent living for all
• Article 19a in your own home
• Article 19b with support
• Article 19c in the mainstream
• So, why residential care, day
centres, workshops etc.?
• How do we tackle our
institutional inheritance?
4. Inclusion

27. Funding flexibility issue…
Is the budget the person’s money?

28. self-directed support

30. 7 keys to
citizenship

32. Equal before the law
• Article 5 equality
• Article 6 women
• Article 12 recognition
• Article 13 justice
• NB Supported decision-making
is critical to the enjoyment of
almost all our rights
5. Responsibility

34. The right to real rights
• Article 31 and following
• But what is this without power in
our communities?
• The power of peer support,
advocacy, collective organisation
and engagement with the
political process.
6. Accountability

36. But the language of RIGHTS also has limitations
NEGATIVE LEGALISTIC UNSTABLE

40. Community
matters
Rights become possible
when a community
takes them seriously

45. To defend human and disability rights we
need to understand the conditions in
which these rights thrive.
We need an ecology of human rights.
The seed of human rights
in order to
fl
ourish
needs the water of citizenship,
the earth of community
and the light of love.
Law - on its own - does not work.
Rhetoric is not mere rhetoric.
The ideas that inspire and motivate us
are the ideas upon which must build no
useful theory can a
ff
ord to reject them.