Untapped Potential? Incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Sign Language Justice

This article explores the extent to which making the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (2006) part of domestic law, that is, incorporation, can act as a supportive mechanism in the pursuit of sign language justice. Despite parallel developments in incorporation of human rights treaties and sign language recognition, these legal processes have largely been explored in isolation of each other. Using Northern Ireland as a case study, the article argues that making the CRPD part of domestic law, in some form, provides a strategic vehicle to hold states parties to account in their actions around sign language rights. Keywords: sign language recognition; UNCRPD; incorporation; language justice; rights.