The vulnerable adult experiment: Situating vulnerability in adult safeguarding law and policy. (July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Keywood, Kirsty
• Is Part Of: International journal of law and psychiatry. Volume 53(2017)
• Page Start: 88
• Page End: 96
• Publication Date: 2017-07
• Subjects: Vulnerability -- Abuse -- Neglect -- Safeguarding: Adult protection -- Mental disability; Forensic psychiatry -- Periodicals; Insanity (Law) -- Periodicals; Criminal psychology -- Periodicals; Forensic Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Psychiatrie médico-légale -- Périodiques; Aliénation mentale -- Périodiques; Gerechtelijke psychiatrie; Electronic journals; 614.15
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2017.05.011
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0160-2527

Abstract

Abstract: This article explores the intersection of English adult protection law and policy as it impacted on the lives of people with mental disabilities. It evaluates developments that were premised on the notion of the 'vulnerable adult', in light of recent theoretical interrogation of vulnerability and the normative shifts in law and policy advocated by the UNCRPD. I argue that the policy and legal conceptions of vulnerability developed in England and Wales, if reworked, have the potential to transform our understanding of what it is to be vulnerable into a more radical and socially-grounded framework for adult safeguarding. This article concludes with some reflections on what further conceptual and policy work must be done in order to effect that transformation.