The impact of the UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on decisions at the beginning and the end of life

The impact of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on legal-ethical issues at the beginning and end of life has rarely been comprehensively investigated. However, that convention raises questions. For example: can we prevent persons with disabilities from having children? And: how to make end-of-life decisions equally accessible to persons with disabilities without leaving them unprotected? Within my mandate, which includes health law and law of persons, I want to develop a research line on this. The topic brings together my expertise on the convention with the rich tradition of the VUB on decisions at the beginning and end of life.
A stable research line requires long-term external funding and a network. The start-up bonus will act as a catalyst for this. With the help of a full-time predoctoral researcher and a part-time postdoctoral researcher I want to develop three research projects and submit them for external funding. The first concerns birth control for persons with disabilities; the second deals with the impact of the convention on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and prenatal screening (and includes national networking); and the third is on accessibility of end-of-life decisions for persons with disabilities (and includes international networking). The project builds towards a stable appointment for at least these two researchers and also aims for a number of publications and the development of a stable network.