Current Issues in Mental Health Law

Hogg Foundation for Mental Healt

This Article Corrects: “Assessment of Physician Well-being, Part Two: Beyond Burnout”

Part One of this two-article series reviews assessment tools to measure burnout and other negative states. Physician well-being goes beyond merely the absence of burnout. Transient episodes of burnout are to be expected. Measuring burnout alone is shortsighted. Well-being includes being challenged, thriving, and achieving success in various aspects of personal and professional life. In this second part of the series, we identify and describe assessment tools related to wellness, quality of life, resilience, coping skills, and other positive states

Do Human Rights Treaties Matter: The Case for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities

In the United States, and throughout many other parts of the world, we are witnessing attacks on basic human rights. As poverty, inequality, and suffering are evident in so many parts of the world today, there are those who say that the entire human rights regime has failed. This author does not agree. While it is true that human rights treaties have not realized their full potential in every country that has ratified them, human rights treaties do matter. This Article makes the case for human rights treaties by referring to the success of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD), which was adopted by the UN in 2006 and has been ratified by 177 countries. The CRPD has spurred the development of new laws, policies, and practices that are transforming societies and offering new protections and opportunities for people with and without disabilities. The CRPD is also creating new norms within the international human rights system itself. Based on the impact of the CRPD to date, the human rights treaty regime has not only not failed but is, in fact, thriving

A Comparative View of Equality Under the UN Convention on the Rights of PERSONS with Disabilities and the Disability Laws of the United States and Canada

In 2006, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [CRPD], the first international treaty addressing specifically the rights of people with disabilities, including in the workplace.  The purpose of the CRPD is “to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity....” The CRPD has been ratified by 160 countries, including Canada, but not yet by the United States. Article 27 of the CRPD, entitled Work and Employment, prohibits not only discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, but also the right of people with disabilities to reasonable accommodations, equal remuneration for work of equal value, safe and healthy working conditions,  assistance in finding, obtaining, maintaining and returning to employment,  rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work programmes,  as well as affirmative action programmes, incentives and other measures to promote equal employment opportunities. As compared to the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Canadian Charter, the CRPD, therefore, goes beyond prohibiting discrimination and instead seeks to ensure greater substantive equality for people with disabilities in the workplace.  As such, the author proposes that both US and Canadian legislatures and courts should look to the CRPD to help their respective countries move beyond traditional notions of formal equality towards a new right to substantive equality in the workplace for people with disabilities. En 2006, les Nations Unies ont adopté la Convention relative aux droits des personnes handicapées [CDPH], le premier traité international portant explicitement sur les droits des personnes handicapées, y compris les droits dans le milieu de travail. La CDPH a pour objet de « promouvoir, protéger et assurer la pleine et égale jouissance de tous les droits de l’homme et de toutes les libertés fondamentales par les personnes handicapées et de promouvoir le respect de leur dignité intrinsèque […] ». La CDPH a été ratifiée par 160 pays, dont le Canada, mais les États-Unis ne l’ont pas encore ratifiée. En plus d’interdire la discrimination fondée sur le handicap dans tout ce qui a trait à l’emploi, l’article 27 de la CDPH, intitulé « Travail et emploi », protège le droit des personnes handicapées de bénéficier d’aménagements raisonnables, de l’égalité de rémunération à travail égal ainsi que de la sécurité et de l’hygiène sur les lieux de travail, le droit d’obtenir de l’aide liée à la recherche et à l’obtention d’un emploi, au maintien dans l’emploi et au retour à l’emploi, l’accès à des programmes de réadaptation, de maintien dans l’emploi, de retour à l’emploi et d’action positive, de même que l’accès à des incitations et à d’autres mesures visant à promouvoir l’égalité des chances dans l’emploi. En conséquence, comparativement à l’Americans with Disabilities Act et à la Charte canadienne, la CDPH va plus loin qu’interdire la discrimination et vise à assurer une plus grande égalité réelle pour les personnes handicapées dans le milieu de travail. C’est pourquoi l’auteur propose que les assemblées législatives et les tribunaux des États-Unis et du Canada examinent la CDPH afin d’aider les instances décisionnelles de leurs pays respectifs à dépasser les notions traditionnelles de l’égalité formelle et à promouvoir un nouveau droit à l’égalité réelle dans le milieu de travail pour les personnes handicapées