Apparently Roger Ebert Thinks Docudramas are Factual – A Response to “Now I lay me down to sleep”

June 29, 2011assisted suicide, Kevorkian, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check, right to die, Roger EbertStephen Drake

…onal leader” it might have gone to his head. As a relative newcomer to the world of disability, he’s done very well, but he really hasn’t got a handle on the rest of the community’s values, perspectives or priorities. Before Ebert writes on this topic again, I’d suggest he read the Assisted Suicide Position Paper published by the National Council on Disability in 1997 with Marca Bristo serving as Chairperson. Marca Bristo is also the CEO of Access…

Steven Salmon: Wisconsin budget cuts will hurt the disabled

March 9, 2011final exit network, libertarians, Medicaid, Our News & Commentary Blog, Steve Vaillancourt, Steven Salmon, suicide, Tea Party, WisconsinStephen Drake

…court, a Tea Party/Libertarian Republican. Consistent with his view of the world, he has contempt for the “Nanny” government – we can guess that includes supports like Medicaid. We also know that his libertarian response to people who are suicidal is that the government should – intervene in those cases, to make sure that a botched suicide doesn’t cost the state more money. If that seems harsh, we’ve seen it play out before. Disability activist an…

Georgia: Response Letters to op-ed by Final Exit Network (FEN) president Wendell Stephenson

January 19, 2012Concrete Change, Eleanor Smith, final exit network, Georgia, Georgia Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, hospice, Our News & Commentary Blog, palliative careStephen Drake

…the same essay was published in December last year in the Metrowest Daily News and can still be read here. It’s the usual conflation of terminal illness with chronic illness, sensationalist language describing FEN members and supporters as victims of oppression, etc. This blog will probably be revisiting Stephenson’s piece in the near future. In the meantime, his op-ed drew some strong reactions that were published in the letters section of the A…

Australia – Great Essay: Looking at the Bigger Picture Regarding Euthanasia

January 25, 2013assisted suicide, Australia, Belgium, disability rights, discrimination, euthanasia, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, suicideStephen Drake

…sing? People take their lives for all sorts of reasons – they might be bankrupt, old, ill, lonely, overworked, trapped in poverty, abused, addicted, confused about their sexuality, at the sharp edge of family breakdown, in shame or at the end of a long set of bad life experiences. If suicide is a gift for one group of people who feel their lives have become unbearable, then why not for everyone who feels like this? Imagine the reaction if someone…

Farewell to Alison Davis – Ally and Activist (1955-2013)

December 6, 2013Alison Davis, assisted suicide, euthanasia, in memorium, Our News & Commentary BlogAlison Davis, assisted suicide, euthanasiaStephen Drake

…luntary Euthanasia Society have always protested that under their proposed rules my request for euthanasia would have been denied because they claim I was “depressed.” Apart from the breathtaking arrogance of presuming to know my state of mind at a time when they did not even know I existed, the truth is that the supposedly “strict safeguards” to a euthanasia law that the VES promotes, do not even mention depression as a disqualifying factor. In f…