The Right of Disabled Children to Be Heard: Individual and Collective Entitlements.

Every child has the “right to be heard.” This fundamental right is typically brought up in judicial proceedings and before administrative authorities. In fact, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) recognizes that disabled children face unique barriers to accessing this fundamental right, and policies must be put in place to ensure all children can fully exercise their right to be heard. Although a disabled child’s right to be heard seems self-evident, in practice most states render it unattainable because disabled children are often denied full legal capacity and recognition of their legal personality. As a result, the right to be heard is ultimately only exercised by those enjoying substitute decision-making powers, such as guardians and conservators. An important dimension of this right—as enshrined in the CRPD—is its collective entitlement to all persons including those with disabilities, which is troublingly absent in the Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC). Applying this collective entitlement to disabled children to allow them to be fully heard has the potential to become a formidable tool to formulate strategies that ultimately contribute to the welfare of disabled children.