What Governor Hochul does with the assisted suicide bill that the NY Senate passed this past Monday will speak volumes about how in-tune she is with the progressive international disability rights movement — and more importantly, with New Yorkers who reject the idea that suicide is rational, just because a person has a disability.
It was a tale of two New Yorks today and the tragic irony hasn’t left me long after this very busy Tuesday.
The first tale begins in Midtown Manhattan while representing Not Dead Yet at the United Nations today for the 18th Session of the Conference of States Parties (COSP 18) to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) where Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed declared, “The message is stark: persons with disabilities face higher poverty, greater unemployment, deeper food and health insecurity…” Even still, the scores of disabled advocates among whom I was honored to count myself, bore witness to the deep dedication of the international shared goal of progress and change to promote and protect equality of opportunity for all.
While the U.S. is a signer to the CRPD, the U.S. Senate has never ratified the convention. Even so, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was an inspiration and model for the CRPD (the most swiftly ratified treaty in UN history) , with its foundations reflecting the social model of disability with focus on respecting disability as a natural part of the human experience in stark contrast to the regressive medical / charity model of disability which views disability as a fate worse than death.
And that brings me to this past Monday in Albany and the second tale of New York where state legislators met in their last week of session to begin debate over dinner on legislation including an assisted suicide bill. With bipartisan opposition, the bill passed 35-27 and now heads to Governor Hochul for review.
Manhattan and Albany are a mere150 miles apart and yet the activities herein described in each location represent policy universes of distance. This week in Manhattan, the UN and hundreds of disability advocates from across the world wrestle with creating the most equitable, just existence for people with disabilities, including implementing and enforcing Article 10 of the CRPD, which is the right to life for persons with disabilities and offers an illustrative indicator on this right as the prevention of premature and unnatural deaths, including “assisted dying.” Meanwhile in Albany, state legislators passed a bill that facilitates and ratifies their assisted, premature deaths.
And wait for it, these same legislators will push out communications celebrating the 35th anniversary of the ADA in a few weeks from now at the end of July, perhaps invincibly ignorant to the hollowness of their pronouncements in light of their catastrophic votes.
New Yorkers with disabilities have been loud and clear about their views of the ableist, regressive, and dangerous policy of assisted suicide. Will Governor Hochul cave to the deep-pocketed national special interest group funding the state campaigns to pass these bills, making hollow all her many other contributions to the disability community during her time as governor? Or will she listen to the advisement of a bipartisan federal agency that has cautioned states from passing these dangerous bills for nearly thirty years?
From here in Midtown Manhattan, the clock is ticking, and it certainly does seem like the world is indeed watching.