Representatives of Not Dead Yet, Second Thoughts Massachusetts and other people with disabilities testified in opposition to a proposed bill to legalize assisted suicide at a hearing held on October 20th before the Joint Committee on Public Health of the Massachusetts legislature. Witnesses were given only two minutes each for oral testimony and could also submit written testimony.
A number of disability advocates and activists testified powerfully and some spoke about their personal experiences of discrimination in the healthcare system. Below are timestamps from the captioned hearing recording in order of appearance. A hyperlink on the witnesses’ names will also take you to their written testimony if available.
John Kelly, who represented Second Thoughts Massachusetts, was called to speak but given insufficient time to open his Zoom microphone and the Committee chair did not respond to his (raised hand) request to be heard. In fact, despite promises made during the hearing to re-call people who missed their first call, the Chair did not invite registered witnesses a second time and the hearing was closed over an hour earlier than scheduled. The testimony John would have provided is HERE.
