78229 Disability and the Law

6cp
Requisite(s): ((22 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04264 Master of Legal Studies OR 22 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C07122 Graduate Diploma Legal Studies) AND 70311 Torts) OR (70107c Principles of Company Law AND (94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04236 Juris Doctor OR 142 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04250 Juris Doctor Master of Business Administration OR 94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04363 Juris Doctor Master of Intellectual Property OR 94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04364 Juris Doctor Graduate Certificate Trade Mark Law and Practice) AND 70106c Principles of Public International Law) OR (94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04320 Juris Doctor Graduate Certificate Professional Legal Practice AND 70106 Principles of Public International Law)
The lower case 'c' after the subject code indicates that the subject is a corequisite. See definitions for details.
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses. See access conditions.
Anti-requisite(s): 76010 Disability and the Law AND 78230 Disability and the Law

Description

This subject explores disability and impairment as a legal category. Students are introduced to the various competing models of disability including: the medical model, the social construction model, the human rights model and bioethical, feminist and postmodern approaches to disability. In so doing, the subject takes an interdisciplinary and international comparative approach to conceptions and theories of disability and impairment. Students examine the practical implications of these models for the construction of legal rights and responsibilities with respect to persons with disabilities in a number of key areas of law. These include health law, tort law, criminal law, international law and anti-discrimination law. Specific issues examined include: constraints on reproductive decision making, end of life decision making; the therapy/enhancement distinction and body modification, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and various state and federal anti-discrimination legislation. Key issues that students need to examine are the concepts of normal and disabled, healthy and diseased and able-bodied and impaired. This subject examines and evaluates how law can best achieve the goals of social justice and equality for individuals with disabilities.

Detailed subject description.