RELEASE: NDY and Autistic Self-Advocacy Network Announce Day of Mourning for Disabled Victims of Domestic Violence

ASAN, Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, domestic violence, George Hodgins, homicide, in memorium, Our News & Commentary Blog, tracy latimer

With National Day of Mourning, Disability Community Remembers Disabled Victims of Domestic Violence

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network and Not Dead Yet are leading a National Day of Mourning on March 30th when disability rights advocates in cities across America will be holding vigils and memorial services to honor the lives of disabled people murdered by their families and caretakers. 

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) March 27, 2012 

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.”

ASAN held a vigil for George Hodgins in Sunnyvale on March 16th. During the vigil, mourners read a list of names, beginning with Tracy Latimer, a disabled teenager killed by her father in 1993. (R. v. Latimer, 2001 SCC 1, [2001] 1 S.C.R. 3.) At the same time as ASAN’s vigil was being held, Tracy’s father was speaking on a television panel on Canadian Global News, arguing for legalizing the killing of disabled people – in the name of “mercy.” The television program was followed by an online liveblog, during which Canadian Global News continued to promote Latimer’s views. Not Dead Yet, a national disability rights group opposed to euthanasia, and other people with disabilities participated through online discussion to challenge Latimer and his fellow pro-euthanasia panel members in a debate during the online blog.

“When disabled people are murdered by caretakers or family members, many people justify these murders as ‘understandable,’ or talk about the ‘burden’ of caring for someone with a disability,” said Ms. Gross. “This is the view that was aired on Canadian Global News and in many news articles covering the murder of George Hodgins. Many people are quick to justify the murder of a disabled person when they would offer no such justification if the murder victim were not disabled.”

ASAN and Not Dead Yet have declared a National Day of Mourning in response to George Hodgins’ murder, Robert Latimer’s television appearance and what they describe as “the broader trend of sympathetic press coverage for people who murder their disabled family members.” On March 30th, disabled people will come together in cities across America to hold vigils and memorial services to honor murder victims with disabilities and to demonstrate to the community that the lives of disabled people have value.

Vigils will be held in cities including Los Angeles, New York, Tampa Bay, Fort Worth, Chicago, Boston, Portland, and Washington, D.C. A complete list of locations and times of Day of Mourning vigils can be found at ASAN’s website, autisticadvocacy.org.

Please see the PRWeb Press Release here.

 

Canada: Council of Canadians with Disabilities Respond to Global News’ Promotion of Killing Disabled People

Council of Canadians with Disabilities, disability rights advocates, euthanasia, media bias, Our News & Commentary Blog, Rhonda Wiebe, Robert Latimer

On March 16, this blog posted a hasty alert about a Live Blog on Canada’s Global News devoted to the promotion of legalizing the killing of disabled kids (and adults, as it turned out).  I’ll try to find some time in the future to write something about being a participant in that repugnant experience.  Right now, I have a heartening response to Global News to share:

The Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) defines itself this way: CCD is a national human rights organization of people with disabilities working for an accessible and inclusive Canada. 

(Please note that Rhonda Wiebe, Co-chair of CCD’s Ending of Life Ethics Committee is also on the Board of Not Dead Yet.)

CCD’s Response to “Taking Mercy” (Global 16×9; March 16, 2012)

To: Jennifer Tryon (jennifer.tryon@globalnational.com)
CC: tips@global16x9.com
From: Rhonda Wiebe, Co-chair CCD Ending of Life Ethics Committee and
Dean Richert, Co-chair CCD Ending of Life Ethics Committee, in consultation with
Dr. Heidi Janz (John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre, University of Alberta) and
Krista Flint (Inclusive Humanity)
Re: CCD’s Response to “Taking Mercy” (Global 16×9; March 16, 2012)
Date: March 26, 2012

Your media blog “Taking Mercy” (March 16, 2012) has left many Canadians in a state of shock. The entire program was filled with misinformation, fear, and stigma. Those of us who live with disabilities could easily have shared hospital rooms, support services, classrooms or neighbourhoods with Tracy Latimer and other children like her who have been murdered by their parents. When we hear ourselves categorized as suffering and having lives that are only worthy of death, we are reminded how segments of our society – represented by the panelists you had on your blog – don’t think we belong. Your guests, including “parent” Robert Latimer and “ethicist” Arthur Schafer only feed into the existential nightmare many Canadians with disabilities face because they perpetuate the idea that it is better to be dead than disabled. Some of us may not be able to speak or walk or hear or see, but that doesn’t mean we don’t belong. Even if we experience pain or need help going to the bathroom, we are still Canadians, we are protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and no one has the right to kill us.

Your blog refused to acknowledge that we are so much more than the sum of our disabilities. Murdering us is not a compassionate or reasonable choice. Some of us with disabilities who are now adults vividly recollect the nightmare we had as children when another child like us, Tracy Latimer, was killed by her father. That nightmare was only intensified when we watched so many Canadians express sympathy for the killer rather than the victim.

We don’t understand how you could frame the justification for murdering persons with disabilities using a term like “mercy.” Our existence should not be dependent on someone else’s subjective measurement of our worthiness. When you reduce the powerful and purposeful lives of persons with disabilities by using trite comments likening our existence to that of pets, plants, mere burdens or simplified stereotypes, you portray us as subhuman and suffering.

Where were the voices of citizens living with significant disabilities? Where were the voices of family members and advocates who see accommodation and inclusion as appropriate responses to supporting persons with disabilities? Your blog shut us out. In what other instance where issues of marginalized groups are discussed, be they First Nations persons, women, newcomers or whomever, do you go forward with a panel discussion that doesn’t include anyone from that group?

We are challenging Global, in the name of journalistic balance, to stage a follow-up episode featuring persons with disabilities who want to live and who see a danger in opening up the debate on euthanasia. Only good can come from providing an opportunity for a broader, fairer public discourse.

Please visit CCD’s Ending of Life Ethics page for more information on Tracy Latimer’s murder, opposition to assisted suicide and other life-and-death issues facing Canadians with disabilities.

Canada: Not Dead Yet Responds to Quebec Commission Report on ‘Dying With Dignity’

Amy Hasbrouck, assisted suicide, Canada, diane coleman, Our News & Commentary Blog, press release, Quebec

Not Dead Yet Responds to Report of the Quebec Commission on the Issue of Dying With Dignity

Disability rights advocates from Not Dead Yet react to the Report of the Commission on the Issue of Dying With Dignity in Quebec, Canada, noting that it contains some positive measures as well as fatal flaws.
Montreal, Quebec (PRWEB) March 26, 2012 

The report of the Quebec parliament’s commission on dying with dignity contains some positive measures as well as fatal flaws, according to Amy Hasbrouck, a resident of Valleyfield, Quebec and board chair of Not Dead Yet, an international disability rights organization opposed to the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia.

“They have addressed some important issues related to palliative care and advance directives,” said Hasbrouck. “The Commission has made an effort to respond to the needs of people near the end of life. Unfortunately the commission’s work is marred by a lack of precision and does not take disability discrimination and elder abuse into account. These factors, along with reliance on good faith and inadequate ‘safeguards,’ mean the Commission has failed elders and people with disabilities.”

The Commission was struck in December of 2009 to research and make recommendations on the issue of “death with dignity” in Québec. After more than two years of taking expert and citizen testimony, and visiting several jurisdictions where assisted suicide and euthanasia are legal, the Commission issued its report on March 22.

The highlight of the report is 24 recommendations that emphasize the importance of palliative care but also allow “medically-assisted death” as an “option for care” for people near the end of life.

“The problem is that the eligibility criteria are open to broad interpretation.” Hasbrouck cites numerous “serious and incurable” conditions, such as ALS, Multiple Sclerosis and Muscular Dystrophy, where people can live many satisfying and productive years, even after “advanced deterioration of their capacities.” Though not terminally ill, the report language indicates that they would be eligible for euthanasia.

“The nature of the individual’s suffering could be physical or psychological, thus potentially including people who are depressed or have mental illness, and language about prognosis is too vague to protect people with disabilities,” Hasbrouck said.

Hasbrouck said the report may appeal to popular opinion, but it does nothing to address the discriminatory double standard whereby non-disabled people who want to kill themselves are directed toward suicide prevention, whereas people with disabilities who are suicidal are helped to die.

Diane Coleman, Not Dead Yet founder and CEO added, “Discrimination against any minority, including people with disabilities, should not be put up to majority vote.“

Not Dead Yet is an international organization by and for people with disabilities who oppose the legalization of assisted suicide, euthanasia and similar practices that discriminate against disabled people. Unlike religious and conservative “right-to-life” groups, NDY uses a disability-rights analysis to challenge the pseudo-liberal view that assisted suicide is a free choice.

“Choice is an empty slogan in a world full of social and economic pressures on people with chronic illnesses and disabilities,” said Coleman.

Read the full press release, including pdf version, at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9325435.htm

Canada: Global News Live Blogging Promotion of Killing Disabled Kids Tonight (March 16)

bioethics, Canada, media bias, Our News & Commentary Blog, promoting murder, Robert Latimer, tracy latimer, unethical ethicists

(My apologies to people who subscribe to this blog via email.  You’ll get this info after the fact.)

Tonight (March 16) Global News is doing a ‘live blog’ promoting the killing of children with disabilities.  The Canadian news network is calling it a ‘discussion,’ but they’re misleading people.  They have a three-person panel.  The first person is convicted killer Robert Latimer, who killed his 12-year-old daughter Tracy by gassing her in the cab of his truck.  There is a woman who has two institutionalized sons and wants to be able to – I guess “put them down” would be the term.  They also have ‘ethicist’ Arthur Schafer, who is on record as being in favor about just about any killing of old, ill or disabled persons as long as the killer says they did it out of mercy.

The live blog is starting at 8:00 pm EST and will run until midnight.  They are already taking comments (which run by a moderator.

Go here to access the main site for the live blog.

Go here to start submitting comments now.  –Stephen Drake

Wall Street Journal: ‘Second Thoughts’ Director John Kelly Quoted in Article on Assisted Suicide Advocates Death

assisted suicide, disability activists, john kelly, Massachusetts, media coverage, Oregon, Our News & Commentary Blog, Peter Goodwin, Second Thoughts, Wal Street Journal

Today’s (March 14, 2012) edition of the Wall Street Journal features a story by reporter Stephen Miller on the death of Peter Goodwin.  Goodwin was a physician who campaigned for passage of Oregon’s assisted suicide law.  Goodwin died Sunday, after drinking a medication prescribed by his physician to end his life.  I admit I haven’t followed other stories on Goodwin’s death, but the following description of Goodwin’s health status makes me wonder if Oregon’s legal definition of “terminal” was – to put it mildly – stretched. From the story ‘Right-to-Die Advocate Ends His Life‘:

Dr. Goodwin, 83 years old, had been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder similar to Parkinson’s disease and had been given less than six months to live. 

Granted, Goodwin is described as having a condition ‘similar to Parkinson’s’ and not Parkinson’s itself, but a person with Parkinson’s who is still able to hold a cup and drink would most likely be a lot farther than six months from dying.

Miller gives significant space to Second Thoughts director John Kelly in this article – for his take on the Oregon law and assisted suicide in general:

The act has had an impact beyond Oregon, serving as a model for a Washington State law that took effect in 2009. Massachusetts is scheduled to vote on a similar law in November, while Montana allows physician-assisted suicide as a result of a court case.

John Kelly, director of Second Thoughts, a Massachusetts-based organization of disability activists who oppose the assisted-suicide ballot petition, said assisted suicide brings up big problems.

Dr. Goodwin “created a monster,” Mr. Kelly said. “Assisted suicide is a deadly mix with the profit-driven health-care system. There are so many problems with assisted suicide. These bills sound good in some kind of a perfect-knowledge fantasy universe, but when we get down to real life they become a disaster.”

Mr. Kelly said Oregon’s assisted-suicide law provides “no safeguards against misdiagnosis, against elder abuse, against physician misconduct. This is a law that singles out one group of people who are old and disabled.”

John and the other members of Second Thoughts are rapidly establishing themselves as committed and knowledgeable activists and stakeholders whose perspective is essential in any story on assisted suicide in Massachusetts and beyond.  –Stephen Drake