This project is a human rights based research project.

It is based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The CRPD is an international human rights treaty. In simple terms it is a list of rights for persons with disabilities that countries sign up to if they agree with them. These rights cover all areas of life including health, education, work and independent living.

The project will use the language of the CRPD – persons with disabilities and children with disabilities – on this website and when it writes about its work so everything is clear and the same. Otherwise, it believes people should described using the words they choose or prefer.

You can read the CRPD here (opens link in new tab).

An Easy Read version of CRPD is available here (opens link in new tab).

It believes in Article 12 CRPD and General Comment No. 1.

Article 12 CRPD and General Comment No. 1 say that persons with disabilities should be allowed to make decisions with legal consequences like everyone else can. They also say persons with disabilities should be allowed to use support to make decisions if they want to. This project wants to learn what this means for children with disabilities.

You can read the text of Article 12 here (opens link in new tab).

You can read General Comment No. 1 here (opens link in new tab).

It believes that persons with disabilities should be involved in research about their lives.

This means that persons with disabilities should be involved in every step of the research – from designing it to sharing its findings. This should be persons with disabilities from lots of backgrounds and with lots of different experiences.

To do this, this project has advisors or co-researchers who are young people with disabilities. Clíona, the lead researcher, is also a person with a disability.