Prof. Keith Mcvilly1, Dr Sonja Molnar1, Ms Lesley Champion1
1University Of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Biography:
Professor Keith McVilly is a registered clinical psychologist with over 35 years experience supporting people with disability in complex circumstances, including in the criminal justice system. He is the foundation Professor of Disability and Inclusion in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. His work addresses the translation of research into policy and practice, with a focus on promoting the well-being and community inclusion of people with multiple and complex disabling experiences.
This presentation reports original research investigating the potential for language in legislation, regulation, policy and operational procedures to shape attitudes towards and both judicial and service system behaviours impacting people with disability in the criminal justice system. The research, commissioned by Forensic Disability Services in Victoria, leveraged a multi-disciplinary team drawing on the disciplines of psychology and linguistics.
We reviewed the published literature and analysed a data set comprised of legislation and policy instruments related to people with disability in the criminal justice system. The analysis was informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and the data subject to an adaptation of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA).
We found a predominance of medical terminology, depicting people with disability as if they were an illness or a disease. The documents focused on deficiencies and deficits, and things people with disability could not do. There was no recognition of a contemporary social model or bio-psycho-social model of disability that might otherwise inform and support rehabilitation.
We conclude that laws and policies need to be re-written to talk about what people with disability can do and what sort of support might help them.