Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities

Running head: EVIDENCE LAW
EVIDENCE LAW
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1EVIDENCE LAW
The term intellectual disability refers someone who has bit intelligence and who
finds it difficult to apply the skill regarding his or her daily activities1. Intellectual disability
can be termed as mental retardation and it has been observed that their learning skill process
is slower compare to others. According to the psychological definition, the people suffer from
intellectual disability have two limitations such as intellectual functioning and adaptive
behaviours. However, it has not mentioned anywhere that they could not learn a thing; but the
process of learning is quite slower. It has been observed that in many times, the persons with
such disabilities could not get proper justice. The basic right of the people is to be equally
treated before the law and special care is required in their case.
Individuals with psychological, intellectual disabilities or communication disabilities may
become involved in criminal proceeding. Such persons with disabilities may be involved in
the criminal proceedings either as defendant, suspects or witnesses.
The reports of the United Nations indicate that persons with any of the disabilities as listed
above have a higher probability of getting involved in the criminal proceeding as compared to
the people without the difficulties. Such people with disabilities are most often victimized
and are subjected to physical abuse and physical or sexual assault which is related to the
vulnerability to such disabilities. Crimes against such persons with disabilities have a low of
probability of being reported. In most cases persons suffering from such disabilities, who
become victims of physical and sexual abuse and assault fear the backlash of the perpetrator
and therefore refrain from filing complaints of such sexual and physical abuse. It has been
estimated that approximately one billion people, accounting for 15 percent of the global
population experience some form of disability. Article 1 of the United Nations convention on
the Rights with persons with disabilities provides the definition of persons who experience
1 Gilissen, Christian, et al. "Genome sequencing identifies major causes of severe intellectual disability." Nature 511.7509
(2014): 344.

2EVIDENCE LAW
disabilities. It can be stated that such persons who suffer from some form of disabilities face
some form of socio economic marginalization which results in poor treatment ad healthcare
facilities, limited prospects of employment and low quality of education. Further it can be
stated that the barriers to access to justice exacerbates the aforementioned negative outcomes.
Disability is a social curse and lack of nutrition or below quality of education
creates disabilities among the people2. Therefore, access to justice can be considered as the
fundamental rights of the disabled people. However, the international policy makers have
failed to promote any provisions for the disabled persons. The disabled person’s rights have
been mentioned under the Sustainable Development Agenda. However, an attempt has been
made by the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)3.
A definition has been given regarding the disabled person and according to this convention,
the disabled person has to face serious disproportional mentalities in the society and
therefore, they have to face serious restriction regarding community participation. It has often
observed that the disabled persons are facing disrespect, outrage of modesty and they have to
face violence in certain times.
However, United Nations have implemented certain policies with an intention to
establish justice for the disabled people. The UN that could be enjoyed by the disabled person
has declared certain set of rights. Further, it has been observed that the preamble of the
Convention is based on the assurance of establishing the rights and dignity of disabled
person4. Therefore, issues relating to the disabled person have become the mainstream and
2 Ma, Huan, et al. "CaMK2G, an Intellectual Disability Candidate Gene, Is Critical for Spatial Learning and Activity-
dependent BDNF Synthesis in the Hippocampus." JOURNAL OF GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY. Vol. 146. No. 3. 950 THIRD
AVE, 2ND FLR, NEW YORK, NY 10022 USA: ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 2015
3 Buxbaum, Joseph, et al. "Combining Autism and Intellectual Disability Exome Data Yields Insight into both
Disorders." NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY. Vol. 40. MACMILLAN BUILDING, 4 CRINAN ST, LONDON N1
9XW, ENGLAND: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, 2015.
4 Wickström, Maria, et al. "Increased risk for mental illness, injuries, and violence in children born to mothers with
intellectual disability: A register study in Sweden during 1999–2012." Child abuse & neglect 65 (2017): 124-131.