Introducing NDY’s New Assistant Director/Policy Analyst: Jules Good
NDY is thrilled to announce that Jules Good is joining our team as Assistant Director and Policy Analyst. This is a new position at NDY established to help implement NDY’s policy priorities at the state and national levels as they affect legislation, regulations, legal cases, and activities of government and health care providers in the areas of assisted suicide and euthanasia, withholding and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, futile care policies and more.
Jules Good (they/them) is a disability justice activist and policy analyst. They are late-Deaf and multiply-disabled. Jules holds a Master in Public Policy from the University of New Hampshire, and formerly worked as the Relay and Assistive Technology Outreach Specialist with Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services. They also founded their own organization, Neighborhood Access, which works with communities to help them make their presence and practices more accessible to disabled people. Jules serves as a member of the White House Office of Public Engagement Disability Advisory Council, as well as a member of the Fair Fight Action Disability Council. Jules has worked with nonprofits, state agencies, and private businesses to aid in making their practices and processes more accessible to the disabled community. They are deeply involved in disability justice work both locally in their current home state of New Hampshire, and nationally.
Please join us in welcoming Jules to the NDY staff!
“Jules brings a broad set of skills to NDY’s efforts, including strong social media experience and a crucial ability to communicate with and engage younger disabled people in these life and death issues.” – Diane Coleman, President/CEO, Not Dead Yet
“Our board is thrilled to welcome Jules into this important position where their passion for disability justice issues and nuanced communication skills will help expand the reach of our mission and work.” – Emily Wolinsky, NDY Board Chair
“I am thrilled and honored to be stepping into this role. I have admired NDY’s work for years and look forward to the opportunity to apply my skills and passion in this crucial area of disability policy. I am eager to engage with NDY’s partners and collaborate in building a world where disabled people can not only survive, but thrive.” – Jules Good, Assistant Director/Policy Analyst
Diane Coleman Interviewed Re Disability Opposition To NY Assisted Suicide Bill
A recent news story on the New York assisted suicide bill included a one-minute interview with NDY’s founder and President/CEO, though the full story began and ended with a much longer video provided by the national organization that supports these bills.
Here are the NDY quotes:
“These policies are especially a danger to people with disabilities of all ages,” explained Diane Coleman of the disability advocacy group, Not Dead Yet.
Coleman said she’s studied other states where medical aid in dying is already in place.
“I think a lot of people assume it’s pain (why people choose to die) but that isn’t the case, the top five reasons are disability-related things like not being able to do the same things you used to do, feeling like a burden on others, feeling like you’ve lost your dignity,” she tells News10NBC.
All issues, Coleman says can be eased with access to proper home care.
“We also know that doctors aren’t that great at predicting the 6 months, I mean I’ve certainly experienced that and many disabled people have been told, well you’re on your last legs here,” she said.
Coleman also has concerns about the safety of the medication being in a home after it is prescribed and filled.
For the whole local news story and video, go HERE.
[Note: The title of the story – “Should terminally ill patients have the right to end their lives?” – is misleading because no one needs permission to end their own life. The purpose of assisted suicide laws is to grant broad legal immunities to 3rd parties who assist the suicide.]
Video: NDY’s John Kelly Debates C&C’s Dan Diaz on Greater Boston
From WGBH, Boston’s PBS station: “Proponents of medical aid in dying, also known as physician-assisted suicide, say it can offer a peaceful death to those who are terminally ill. Critics say the process is unfairly stacked against people with disabilities. The two sides debated with Liz Neisloss on Greater Boston.”
An article samples quotes from the 15 minute TV broadcast (video below):
John Kelly, director of Second Thoughts Massachusetts, is opposed to the bill. An accident left Kelly paralyzed from the neck down at the age of 25. He said many people who have chosen physician-assisted suicide did so not because of pain, but because of a loss of abilities and feeling like a burden on others. He said those are the same issues disabled people face.
“My own father wished that I had died in the accident,” he said. “And people have told me they would rather be dead than be like me.”
He added that there’s a lack of proper home care, which can be expensive when available.
“People are faced with the choice of going to a nursing home or living at home with resentful helpers, not getting their needs met,” he said.
Disability Activists Crash Pro-Assisted Suicide Press Conference
Last Wednesday, five disability rights advocates surprised assisted suicide proponents with some direct action in Albany, NY. They were Alex Thompson from the NY Assn. On Independent Living, Zach Garafalo from Center for Disability Rights (CDR), and Julie Farrar, Cliff Perez and Aaron Baier from the Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley.
The disability activists had received short notice of a pro-assisted suicide “rally” and press conference being held in the Capital and Legislative Office Building, so they made signs, grabbed NDY t-shirts and headed over. CDR also issued a press release (see below).
If there was a rally at the planned location, the activists must have missed it, but they muscled their way into the press conference room of about 20 people. When proponents spoke, claiming that the majority of disabled people support assisted suicide, one intrepid protester yelled “Bullsh*t!”.
In the flurry of activity, we only got one photo, featuring Aaron Baier with his sign (photo credit to Julie Farrar).
