NDY President Diane Coleman in DC with ADAPT! (Fighting for Medicaid)

ADAPT, civil disobedience, diane coleman, disability activists, Medicaid, Noah Wyle, Our News & Commentary Blog

This week the NDY blog will once again feature a mix of the usual NDY-related topics but also bring news of the current Spring Action of ADAPT in Washington, DC.  Here’s a slightly edited intro to ADAPT and NDY’s relationship to ADAPT and the policies ADAPT advocates for:

First and foremost, NDY is a disability rights group – and without ADAPT’s example and longstanding leadership on disability rights issues, NDY might not exist at all.  Second, NDY’s concerns aren’t limited to opposing legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia.  We oppose any policies or practices that threaten the lives of people with disabilities.  And make no mistake – the proposed cuts to Medicaid – under the laughable guise of “shared sacrifice” represent a big threat to the lives and welfare of people with disabilities of all ages.

NDY’s president and founder Diane Coleman is with ADAPT this week.  I’m still here holding down the NDY fort while she’s away.

Here’s a little you should know about ADAPT’s mission this week:

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES ARRIVE IN DC TO FIGHT FOR REAL MEDICAID REFORM

Washington, DC—ADAPT, the national disability rights action group known for its direct action tactics, will take the nation’s capitol by storm with a three-day series of actions Monday April 23 through Wednesday April 25. The actions will highlight the failure of the Federal government to protect community based services for very low income people with disabilities who rely on Medicaid. Adding to the Medicaid budget crisis throughout the fifty states, the Supreme Court’s consideration of the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act is creating unprecedented tension over the fate of millions of Americans with disabilities.

“The public presence of advocates for Medicare and Social Security is extremely visible, but the voice of people with disabilities who need Medicaid services has been often overshadowed at the federal level,” said Bob Kafka of ADAPT of Texas. “We are here to make it plain to Congress and the administration that we want action, not just words.”

“My state is relying on Federal Medicaid dollars to shore up services that are seriously at risk from a projected $2.7 billion cut to the state’s Medicaid budget,” said Rahnee Patrick of Chicago ADAPT. “These services include things like durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs, which both I and my husband need. They include pharmaceuticals. They include transplants. Everything is at stake. “

Added Marsha Katz of Montana ADAPT, “Cutting or changing Medicaid without thoughtful reform has very real life or death consequences for people with disabilities and people who are aging who live on fixed incomes that are significantly below the poverty level.   Washington should be putting our tax dollars into cost-saving community based services, not costly nursing homes and institutions. The time has come to get real about how we spend Medicaid dollars. Medicaid really does matter.”

“When Congress’ idea of Medicaid ‘reform’ is creating block grants to the states, that demonstrates a real lack of political responsibility to ensure that vital services and supports reach the people who most need them,” said Patrick. “Block grants create a lack of accountability in spending because every state will administer Medicaid differently. We need to make sure that Medicaid dollars go to support the people who need Medicaid.”

Hundreds of activists from across the nation will participate in these actions, many of whom currently rely on Medicaid for their independence, health and safety.

People in and outside the disability community probably want to know that actor Noah Wyle (ER, Falling Skies) is marching with ADAPT this week (I hear he was arrested today along with ADAPT activists).

Below is a picture of Noah Wyle sitting on the left, next to Diane Coleman, who has a tight grip on her coffee:

If you want to follow this week’s actions in DC, here are the ways you can follow and look for opportunities to help our warriors in DC:

1. “Like” the National Adapt group page on Facebook. The page “Nationaladapt
Freeourpeople” is no longer working so we are asking all our Facebook friends to “like” the National Adapt Group Page instead. You can find it at: http://www.facebook.com/NationalAdapt.The top cities with more then 10 people each people “liking” this page are: Austin, Chicago and Philadelphia! Recruit your friends to “like” our page so your city can join this elite list. Austin leads the way with 26 “likes.”

2. Follow the Twitter account @nationaladapt. If you do not have Twitter, you can still read our messages by visiting www.twitter.com/nationaladpt and refreshing the page every so often to see the latest news. We are proud to report that we have 3,165 people following the Nationaladapt tweets from all over the world. Be prepared for a thunderstorm of tweets through Thursday morning. We plan to kick some butt. Photos live from the site will also be posted via Twitter.

And of course, daily reports are available from the ADAPT Action Report compiled by Tim Wheat of Boulder ADAPT, which can be found at http://www.adapt.org/freeourpeople/2012/.
Daily reports are often posted very late at night or in the mornings and they have some good eyewitness reports.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT for Twitter or Facebook messages from us asking you to take action by making phone calls or letters. In the past, you have been so helpful by blitzing our targets with messages when asked—we will need your help again. Even though the physical action is happening here in DC, ADAPT actions are really about everyone taking action everywhere. You are with us, from Seattle to El Paso to Miami to New Hampshire.

One more thing:

On Sunday, ADAPT had a FunRun to raise funds for ADAPT.  Diane Coleman was a runner and it’s not too late to pledge or to donate a flat amount.  I, since I’m in Rochester, am listed as a ‘virtual runner’ meaning I was there in spirit.  You can support ADAPT and NDY through a donation to my ADAPT page as well.  The links are below:

Diane Coleman’s FunRun Donation/Sponsor Page

Stephen Drake’s ‘Virtual Runner’ Donation/Sponsor Page

ADDENDUM – Diane Coleman was one of the over 100 ADAPT activists arrested today!

Dr. Phil: Promoting Killing People with Cognitive Disabilities – And a Close Encounter in 2002

Annette Corriveau, Carol Carr, Dr. Phil, euthanasia, Geoffrey Fieger, mercy killing, murder, Our News & Commentary Blog, Phil McGraw, promoting murder

The first time I ever heard of Dr. Phil McGraw was in the late summer of 2002 when I got a call from one of his producers.

First, she had to explain to me just who “Dr.Phil” was.  By now, anyone reading this knows his history with Oprah and his trajectory into his own show, so I don’t have to go over that part.

Once the producer got over that part, she got to the point of her call.  The show would start airing soon and they were planning and taping the first shows.  They planned to do a show on Carol Carr, who, in June of 2002, had walked into the nursing home where her two sons resided in Griffin, Georgia.  She went to the room that they shared and shot both men dead.  Both men had Huntington’s disease. Michael Randy Scott was 42 and Andy Byron Scott was 41.

What they planned for the show, she explained, was to hold a sort of ‘mock trial’ for Carol Carr.  They would have ‘experts’ debate the pros and cons of treating her shooting of her sons as a murder vs. exonerating her as having performed an act of mercy.

They already had their ‘experts’ lined up, but didn’t say (so far as I can recall) who they were.  What she wanted from me was to get one person from Not Dead Yet to show up to be in the audience for the taping – where, they would probably get to ask one question or make one statement.

After getting her office phone number, I told her I’d see what I could do and went to discuss the issue with Diane Coleman.

To make a long story short, we were faced with trying to get someone from the Los Angeles area to commit to go with very little warning. That individual would then be faced with trying to arrange transportation to the show – not an easy thing in the LA area for the chair-users we knew.   It seemed like an awful lot of work to ask of someone else – a commitment which would eat up a significant portion of their day – for the possibility they might get to ask one question or make one statement.  This in the context of a show that looked rigged to go very much against people with disabilities.

We reached the conclusion that the best thing was to refuse to cooperate with the show.

I called the producer back and explained that we decided not to even try to get someone to the show and started to explain why.  We believed the show was a bad idea, plain and simple.  They were going to have some ‘experts’ on a stage – none of whom knew anything about supports for people with disabilities or how disabled people can have a great quality of life with supports – and discuss whether the killing of Michael and Andy Scott were “real” murders.  I explained that there was a nationwide trend for the murders of disabled people to be treated as insignificant, compared to other deadly incidents of domestic violence.  Further, it was clear that the pattern didn’t result so much from sympathy for the killer as it did from devaluing and objectification of the victims.

I said it was offensive to put the worth of the lives of disabled people on trial as an entertainment exercise.

She disagreed with the characterization.  I assured her that we would be willing to issue a national press release as soon as we watched the episode (which I had no doubt would meet our expectations).

In the end, the show never aired – which means, I guess, that they never actually did that show.

Maybe the threat of a press release and negative publicity resulted in the decision not to go with the show.  But I suspect that if it was anything I said at the time that actually had an impact it was near the end of the conversation.

I had gone back to the issue that the idea of debating the value of disabled lives for entertainment was offensive and she told me that she didn’t think it was.  I told her, that as a white male, when black women tell me a certain portrayal of them is offensive I trust and respect their evaluations over the assurances of other white males that there’s no problem.  After a slight pause, she responded quietly with, “well, I am a black woman and I know what you mean.”  The call closed with my promise that I’d keep a lookout for the particular show when the Dr. Phil Show started airing.  After two months of watching the TV schedule diligently, I gave up and figured they just didn’t do it.

Well, that was then – Dr. Phil has been on the air for almost ten years.  And he’s shown a tendency to jump on headlines and to exploit breaking human interest stories – and the people at the center of them with enthusiasm. You can check out the Wikipedia entry on “Dr. Phil” to see a series of his greatest hits – accusations of unethical conduct, and various other not-so-nice things – most having to do with the good doctor having done something involving the exploitation of a situation or someone’s personal trauma to boost his show, his ratings and his ‘brand.’  This MSNBC news story about accusations of exploiting Britney Spears’ very public emotional meltdown(s) back in 2008 is also very informative about the “ethical grounding” of good ol’ Dr. Phil.

So I guess it wasn’t really all that surprising when Dr. Phil and his staff took notice of the controversy – and attention – garnered by Global News in Canada with its ‘Taking Mercy’ show which promoted the idea that parents should be able to kill their children who have intellectual disabilities.  The show centered around Annette Corriveau, who has two adult children who have a progressive genetic condition called Sanfilippo syndrome.  It aired on April 13, 2012.

Since, as usual, the main concern of Dr. Phil and his staff is providing programming that will grab attention, there was no honest exploration of ethical issues when he, in turn, had Annette Corriveau on his show.  In addition to Corriveau, he had Geoffrey Fieger – who not only defended Kevorkian, but also helped him pick out and eliminate ‘candidates’ for assisted suicide based on what he believed Kevorkian could get away with.  Fieger has never criticized any homicide labelled a ‘mercy killing’ that he’s been asked to comment on.  The third ‘guest’ was a woman identified only by her first name – ‘Ruthi’ – who is described as having four birth children and three step children; we’re also told that three of her children have ‘special needs’ and suffer from disorders.  She is appalled at the idea of killing people with intellectual disabilities.

The show opens with a brief intro of Corriveau. After that, we’re treated to an interview of her conducted by one of the producers while video from the ‘Taking Mercy’ show runs in the background.

Over the course of the opening (which takes over half of the show segment) we are shown and/or told the following:

  • Video shows Corriveau’s two children from childhood to recent pictures as adults.
  • Aside from the cognitive and physical disabilities developed as a result of the condition, much is made of the changes in their appearance as they got older (implying the ‘not normal’ appearance is also tragic).
  • She institutionalized them both when they were young.
  • She visits them every two months, but doesn’t touch them, because they don’t react to her.  We hear nothing about whether or not they react to staff people they see every day..

After that, Dr. Phil does a little back and forth with Corriveau, making mild protests about not knowing what they would want and how it’s different from withholding treatment.  He also says he wouldn’t want to live “like that.”

Next he goes to Geoffrey Fieger, who says what she wants is perfectly reasonable and merciful and that the law is stupid.  No one who knows anything about Fieger can be surprised by his take on this – not even Dr. Phil – but I suspect he invited Fieger on the show precisely because he knows what Fieger’s take will be.

Next he goes to ‘Ruthi.’  We don’t get to see any videos of Ruthi’s kids.  She might be an articulate advocate in other venues, but she’s been outmatched here.  Not only does the “I want to kill my kids” mom have the stage, but interruptions by Corriveau and Fieger eat up over half of the little time Ruthi has to voice her objections to what is being promoted that day.

Next – he asks for a show of hands from the audience – how many agree that Corriveau should be able to ‘mercifully’ kill her kids?  It’s no surprise that an audience that has sat through a presentation in which Corriveau’s honesty, compassion or motives are never questioned – and backed by a leading advocate of anything that gets called ‘mercy killing’ (Fieger) – about 90% of the audience back Corriveau.  By doing so, they’ve also written off the lives of anyone with a significant cognitive disability.  It’s a bad day for people with disabilities, but a great day for Dr. Phil – who loves great theater.

There’s a feature after every show called “Dr. Phil Uncensored.”  You can check the link and track down the one for the show “Deadly Consequences” – the obviously scripted interaction between Dr. Phil and his staff is pure bullshit from beginning to end regarding the ‘mercy killing’ segment.  They express surprise over the audience vote and congratulate themselves, saying that “all the arguments were brought to the table” and that  “we got both sides out”.  That’s just crap – they’re all too smart not to know they loaded the dice and ended up with exactly the show they planned on.  They’re just counting on audience gullibility.

This is a link to the main story site of “Deadly Consequences.”

As another person outraged about this said on Facebook, Dr. Phil really is no different – or better – than  Jerry Springer, who reigned for years as the exploitation circus king.  The difference between Dr. Phil and Springer is that Springer never seriously claimed to be ‘helping’ anyone.  Far too many of Dr. Phil’s fans think he’s some sort of kind professional, when in fact he’s just another self-promoting entrepeneur working hard to separate gullible people from their money.

Vermont – Senate Votes Down Latest Attempt at Assisted Suicide Passage

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On Thursday, April 12, the Vermont Senate engaged in a two-hour debate over a provision to legalize assisted suicide that was attached to a bill banning those under 18 from using tanning salons.  After the debate, the Senate voted against allowing the rider to the tanning bill by a vote of 18 to 11.

Here’s some an excerpt from the Burlington Free Press:

(The ‘Miller’ referred to below is Sen. Hinda Miller, who initiated the move to attach the assisted suicide rider to the tanning bill)

So the discussion began.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Sears, D-Bennington, peppered Miller with questions about the legislation, including the impact on a doctor’s role and on suicide rates.

Miller didn’t have any answers. “I do not understand the question,” she said at one point.

“How can we move forward with this bill?” Sears responded.

Senators broke for a recess as Miller looked for help. Sears told colleagues, “When you’re unprepared for the debate you shouldn’t cry foul.”

Miller appealed to Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham. “Can I yield to you?” she asked, meaning White would answer Sears’ questions on the floor.

“Why me?” White answered.

As they returned to the formal session, Sears said he was done with his interrogation. “The point I wanted to make with some of the questions I asked of the senator is merely that there was no testimony,” he said.

One by one, senators took the floor to make their case either for or against the amendment.

As noted at the top, after all arguments were made, the move to allow the amendment/rider stand failed.

One of the most heartening things to read was the editorial in the same edition of the Burlington Free Press:

The legislation to allow assisted suicide, and the practice itself — even with all its safeguards — still raises concerns, concerns grave enough to warrant keeping the bill from becoming law in this state.

The law fundamentally changes the relationship between the medical practitioner and patient. There is an essential difference between a doctor withholding extraordinary measures to prolong life of someone who is near death and becoming an active participant in hastening the end.

There is also the question of oversight. Much meaningful information about assisted suicide would be withheld from the public in the name of privacy. Yet without sufficient information, there is no true public oversight. In its place, we would be asked to take the word of government officials that all is well.

In a matter of life and death, the people are asked to put their blind faith in the same government that has proven itself so inept in safeguarding something far less consequential — money — from embezzlement by public employees.

It’s nice to read something from an editorial board that indicates they’ve read the concerns about ‘safeguards’ and ‘oversight’ – and taken them seriously.

For more information please check out True Dignity Vermont. –Stephen Drake

Huffpo: Excellent Article on Elderly Homicide/Suicide

Elizabeth Maquardt, Huffpo, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check, suicide-homicide

Today’s Huffington Post features an article by Elizabeth Marquardt, who blogs regularly at Family Scholars, which is part of the Institute for American Values.

Ms. Marquardt covers an issue familiar to readers of this blog – the growing and alarming phenomenon of elderly homicide/suicides – older men killing their wives and then killing themselves.  This article brings in some information I haven’t looked at yet and I’ve added to my “books to order” list as a result.

Below is an excerpt from her article – Elderly Murder-Suicide: Should We Praise Old Men Who Kill Their Wives and Themselves? 

A bizarre aspect of these episodes is that reporters, commentators or the killers themselves frequently speak of them as “loving” acts. When a husband (and make no mistake: this is a gendered activity; husbands almost always kill their wives and not the reverse) kills his sick wife and then himself, he is said to act out of compassion or understandable desperation. After their parents’ bodies were found, the shocked Snelling family, looking for meaning in this tragic act, released a statement saying their father acted “out of deep devotion and profound love.”

Please go and read the rest of her article here to let the Huffington Post know you are interested in this topic and what she’s written about it.  –Stephen Drake

Community Remembers Disabled Victims of Domestic Violence

Our News & Commentary Blog

Disability rights advocates in cities across America will be holding vigils this Friday, March 30th to honor the lives of disabled people murdered by their families and caretakers. This nation-wide Day of Mourning is being organized by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network(ASAN) and Not Dead Yet in response to the murder of George Hodgins, a 22-year-old autistic man, and the media coverage that the organizations describe as “sympathetic” to his murderer.

On March 6, George Hodgins was reportedly murdered by his mother in Sunnyvale, California. Elizabeth Hodgins killed herself after fatally shooting her son. The Santa Cruz Sentinel referred to Ms. Hodgins as “a devoted and loving mother.” The Mercury News coverage appeared focused on the stress Hodgins’ mother underwent as a parent of an autistic child. “Some articles asked readers to put themselves in the shoes of the murderer,” said Zoe Gross, a member of ASAN, “but no articles called for empathy for the murder victim, who died knowing that his own parent had chosen to kill him.”