THE LEGAL CAPACITY OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AND THE MAIN CHALLENGES FOR THE CHILEAN LEGISLATOR

Abstract

Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) introduces a paradigm shift by recognizing the personality and legal capacity of people with disabilities. Establishes a support system for decision-making and safeguards that guarantee the exercise of the capacity. These three central axes, as well as the eventual disappearance of the distinction between the capacity to enjoy and to exercise, pose important challenges to the chilean legislature in adapting regulations to adapt to the Convention, ratified in 2008. Thus, in bills to adapt the Code Civil, a definition of legal capacity should be contained, establish a support system based on the will and preferences, consider means of periodic control and not dismiss the chance to resort to representation, in specific situations.