Dr Danielle Watson

I research at the intersection of the law and vulnerable people, with a keen focus on the impact of the law on people with disabilities and the LGBTQ+ community. This interest stems from my PhD on human rights and disability law. I consider myself a specialist on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

My research uses a queer and intersectional framework to analyse different areas of law. In particular, I research within the fields of medical law, mental health law, and disability law. I am currently developing several research projects stemming from my doctoral thesis on alternative models of disability within the context of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), formulating a new model of disability through the lens of identity. This includes:

• how the law interacts with Dissociative Identity Disorder (on personhood, integration, and capacity for medical care)
• the unique interaction between the UN CRPD and medical treatment for disabilities
• the promotion of reproductive autonomy for persons with disabilities

Gronholm PC et al, ‘Assessing the Priority of Human Rights and Mental Health: The PHRAME Approach’ (2023) 9 BJPsych Open 56.

Watson D, ‘The CRPD is Here and Queer: Using Queer Commentary to protect Minority Rights’, (forthcoming, Human Rights Law Review Special Issue 2024)

I welcome approaches from prospective doctoral candidates on projects utilising Queer Theory and Intersectionality to critically analyse the law. I am particularly interested in queer approaches to Medical Law, Mental Health, Disability Law, LGBTQ+ issues, and Human Rights.

Undergraduate

• LW3301 Caring and the Law
• LW3370 Equity and Trusts
• LW3531 Gender, Sexuality and the Law

Postgraduate

• LW7293 Mental Health Law

I have also taught Contract Law and the Law of Tort.

The impact of human rights on law and policy for persons with disabilities, particularly medical law and mental health law. 

I have presented at numerous conferences. A non-exhaustive list of papers includes:

• “Keeping a Sheep in the Garden: On Disability Rights and Novel Ideas” - SLSA Conference, Derry, April 2023
• “Deus Ex Machina: Video Games and the Future of Cybernetic Augmentation” - SLSA Conference, York, April 2022
• “Here and Queer: How the CRPD uses a queer commentary perspective to protect minority rights” - SLSA Conference, Leeds, April 2019
• “Gender Queer: The Right to Gender Identity in the European Court of Human Rights” - Nottingham ENQUIRE Conference, March 2019