Firstly,  just a reminder that the European Union finally ratified the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 23 December
2010.  This brings  the number of States Parties to the CRPD to 97
while the Optional Protocol has 60 ratifications.

And second, a sign of how the CRPD can help users and survivors:

Last week the Constitutional Court of Latvia decided that the
country's civil law (Articles 358 and 364) allowing legal incapacity
does not comply with Article 96 (right to private life) of Latvia's
Constitution or Article 12 of UN CRPD. Both of these articles will
become invalid from 1 January 2012