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H2020Individual fellowship2015–2018

NEDBELS · NEURODIVERSITY BETWEEN LAW AND SCIENCE

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2015-09-01 → 2018-08-31
EU contribution
€159,035
Participants
2
Scheme
MSCA-IF-GF

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

NEURODIVERSITY BETWEEN LAW AND SCIENCE

NEDBELS was designed to inquire into the legal impacts and socio-political implications of the concept of neurodiversity. This term pertains to individuals diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders (such as Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism), as well as people displaying Language-Based Learning Disabilities (such as Dyslexia). The concept of neurodiversity hypothesizes the emergence of a new category of difference in the human population. NEDBELS explored how neurodiversity challenges the constitutional principle of equality, as well as how it fosters the need to accommodate new principles in criminal and civil law. NEDBELS’ core objectives were: (1) to establish an interdisciplinary framework between neuroscientists, clinicians and legal scholars; (2) to assess the impact of scientific advances in neurodevelopmental disorders on three levels: a) law and policy making; b) adjudication; c) legal theory and conception of the self; and (3) to expand the legal research field of Law and Neurosciences. During the period covered by the action, NEDBELS was able to merge and harmonize new scientific knowledge, as well as skills and clinical experience acquired during the permanent training with the result of legal, judicial and social claims mapping. This showed how judicial enforcement of the law, as well as legal interpretation of fundamental constitutional principles benefit from a more up-to-date scientific understanding of the disorders associated with the concept of neurodiversity. In fostering this specific debate, NEDBELS is arguing for a shift from a strictly “medical model” of disability to a “rights and citizenship” one.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The aim of the research proposal “Neurodiversity between Law and Science” (NEDBELS) is to inquire into the legal impacts and socio-political implications of the concept of neurodiversity. This term pertains to individuals diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders such as Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism and hypothesizes the emergence of a new category of difference in the human population. NEDBELS explores how this concept challenges the constitutional principle of equality, as well as how it fosters the need to accommodate new principles in criminal and civil law. This proposal has risen from a need for heightened communication between law and science. Scientific theories, concepts and methods widely permeate law and adjudication, and legal and ethical frameworks intimately drive applied sciences, as in education and health care systems. Therefore, one might reasonably expect that these two worlds would cooperate on a regular basis. However, lawyers, scientists and health care professionals operate largely insulated from one another in research, formal training and daily practice. This divergence prevents vulnerable minorities, such as people with neurodevelopmental disorders, from reaping the full socio-political potential of scientific advancements. NEDBELS’s goal is to increase communication between law and neurosciences through interdisciplinary research methodologies and scientific training-through-research as well as by enhancing the synergy among legal experts, policy makers and scientists in the field of neurodiversity

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA · BolognaCoordinatorItaly
  • University of California, Hastings College of the LawUnited States

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union