NDY’s Press Advisory issued Monday evening resulted in a Spectrum News interview of Albany disability activist Julie Farrar. The Advisory was distributed to New York media outlets in response to assisted suicide proponents’ announcement of a virtual press conference held Tuesday.
While giving more space to proponents’ hopes for passing the assisted suicide bill this year, Spectrum News coverage included video excerpts of the interview as well as the following quotes in the online article:
But not everyone is convinced. Julie Farrar of the organization Not Dead Yet said the legislation sends the wrong message, especially to people with disabilities.
Farrar believes the measure, in essence, tells people, “we are all cheaper dead, we are all less expensive if we need no treatment at all.”
Farrar said instead, lawmakers should consider ways of expanding health care and assisted living for vulnerable people.
“That makes living with a terminal illness very frightening if you don’t have access to the services you need,” she said.
For information on disability opposition to assisted suicide laws, read a short summary developed by NDY and the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund.
