Thirty Years of Holding It Is Long Enough

Americans with Disabilities Act, Our News & Commentary Blog,

When I saw the title above, I thought immediately of the years I spent as a state lawyer in California, not drinking until 2 p.m. in the afternoon because the office bathrooms were inaccessible. This was the 1980s, and at least two laws required access, but the state used the excuse that it was leased space so the landlord had to do the modifications. When the ADA passed, both state and landlord became responsible, no more excuses. Finally, I could have my cup of coffee like my co-workers.

In 1990, I was one of 104 disability rights protesters arrested in the U.S. Capitol rotunda for chanting “ADA Now” and refusing to leave. Today, Congress is threatening the right to access. Here’s what you need to know from our colleagues at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. #StopHR620! – Diane Coleman, JD

[P.S. Remember, NDY’s primary legal arguments against assisted suicide laws is that they discriminate by giving some people suicide prevention and others suicide assistance based on illness and disability in violation of the ADA.]

Why Disabled Americans Oppose H.R.620 (and You Should,Too)
The House of Representatives will vote the week of Feb. 12 on H.R.620. We need your help to stop it!
Big business is trying to bamboozle the House and the American public into supporting an unnecessary law misleadingly titled the “ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017” (H.R.620) that would make it even harder for disabled Americans who have been “holding it,” waiting to use the same restrooms, shop at the same department stores, and eat at the same restaurants as our non-disabled friends and family members, for almost 30 years!
They say the law is needed to help local “mom and pop” shops, while behind the scenes, powerful trade associations for wealthy corporations—everything from multinational hotel chains to big box stores and corporate coffee shops—are pulling the strings in an effort to gain support for regressive rollbacks to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). This opens the door to not only dismantling the ADA, but other civil rights laws as well.
Please contact your House Representative (and others from your state) and encourage them to stay strong in their opposition to H.R.620 and any “notice and cure” bill, as a rollback of civil rights. SAVE THE ADA!
What You Can Do: 
Go to Contacting Congress using your zip code to find out how to reach your House representative via e-mail, phone, Facebook, Twitter, fax, etc.
Call your Representative using the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. They will help you find your Representative’s name, and switch you to their office. If you know your Representative’s name, you can use the House of Representatives phone list.
Sample Script:
“Hello, my name is [your name]. I’m a constituent from [your state], zip code [your zip code]. I am opposed to H.R. 620 and any change to the equal access protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I strongly encourage Representative [add last name] to oppose any reform efforts. Thank you.”
 
Reasons To Oppose H.R.620:
  • H.R. 620 would weaken the civil rights of people with disabilities, making it harder for us to use the same restrooms, shop at the same department stores, and eat at the same restaurants as our non-disabled friends, family members, and peers.
  • Disability rights are civil rights. The ADA is a civil rights law. H.R. 620 would not only rollback important parts of the ADA, it would pose risks for other civil rights laws as well (such as Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars public accommodations such as hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues from discriminating based on race; Title III of the ADA was based on this law).
  • H.R. 620 would not solve the problems its supporters are claiming it would fix. It would not stop fraudulent lawsuits. State courts and state bar associations are already equipped to address those problems, in better ways, without denying anyone equal access, or their civil rights. They have been successfully shutting down those bad practices in many areas.
Three decades of holding it is long enough! Tell your Congressional Representative to OPPOSE H.R. 620.
For more information, see https://dredf.org/hr620/ or write info@dredf.org.

Delaware Assisted Suicide Disability Amendment Is A Misdirect

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The sponsor of the Delaware assisted suicide bill introduced an amendment apparently designed to address disability related concerns. It’s always good to know that disability opposition has gotten their attention, but this amendment is a total failure and completely misses the point, any point we’ve made. A disability response to the amendment is below. The battle in Delaware wages on.

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The IDD amendment is a “clever” but deceptive attempt to address concerns about assisted suicide and people with IDD. Here is the key provision:

“(b) If the patient has a documented intellectual disability, the attending physical shall refer the patient to a licensed clinical social worker who shall ensure that the patient fully understands the information provided pursuant to § 2504B(3).  No medication to end a patient’s life in a humane and dignified manner may be prescribed unless the licensed clinical social worker has confirmed in writing to the attending physician that the patient understands the information provided pursuant to § 2504B(3).”

This indicates that people with IDD who are found to understand the (minimal) disclosures provided under the assisted suicide law are eligible.

First, nothing in the proposed bill ensures that people actually have access to the pain relief, palliative care and home and community based personal care services they need. Lack of access to services is a pervasive problem in the disability community.

Moreover, just like all of the proposed bill, it utterly fails to prevent coercion. Coercion to request lethal drugs, like any form of abuse, occurs behind closed doors. The Delaware bill, and the Oregon law on which it is based, do nothing to prevent or discover coercion, nor even to define it. The attending physician need not know the person well; the median duration of the patient-physician relationship in Oregon is 13 weeks. The witnesses to the lethal drug request form need not know the person at all, but can simply check their ID. Yet these are the people who “certify” that there is “no coercion.” Then the patient request form serves as an alibi, covering up any form of foul play and granting blanket legal immunity to the perpetrator(s).

 

Mumbai: Elderly Couple Want to be Euthanized

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From The Telegraph:

A city-based elderly couple have sought President Ram Nath Kovind’s permission for active euthanasia or “assisted suicide”, saying they “are of no use to the society or themselves”.

Narayan Lavate, 88, and Iravati, 78, who have no children and say their siblings are also no more, have likened their lives to life imprisonment and argued that keeping them alive against their wishes is a “waste of the country’s scarce resources as well as theirs”.

The residents of Charni Road in south Mumbai also believe it is unfair to compel them to wait to die till they are afflicted by a “serious ailment or deformity”, and have urged the President to make theirs as an exceptional case of “active euthanasia”. In their petition dated December 21, 2017, Lavate said they were in reasonably good health now.

Unfortunately, appeals to the Government from families requesting euthanasia or “mercy killings” aren’t that uncommon. But this appeal – apparently from a relatively affluent couple – is different from the other appeals that have been brought over the years.

Most appeals in India for some kind of assistance in ending the lives of family members come from people of limited incomes. They complain of the lack of money and/or supports to exist while supporting disabled or sick family members. Death is their *second* choice – and the appeal usually results in the family getting more support.

Back in 2011, I described the reality of “mercy killing” appeals in India in some detail, and you read it here.

Bottom line: Don’t think this latest case represents a groundswell of demand for euthanasia in India. This is not typical of Indian “right to be killed” cases – which are mostly thinly-veiled appeals for more support from desperate people.

John Kelly’s Excellent Op-Ed in the Boston Globe

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The Mass. Legislature must say ‘no’ to assisted suicide
John Kelly

Image description: fead and shoulders photo of while man with short hair and glasses, with a sip-and-puff wheelchair control near his chin.

IN A COMPLETE ABOUT-FACE, in early December, the Massachusetts Medical Society gave state legislators the nod to enact dangerous public policy that puts my life and the lives of thousands of others in Massachusetts at risk. The medical society rescinded its longstanding opposition to assisted suicide, commonly held with the American Medical Association, that assisted suicide “would ultimately cause more harm than good” and is “fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer.”

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The bill, despite its promise of “end-of-life options,” ultimately takes choice away from people. Because assisted suicide would immediately become the cheapest “treatment” offered, it would encourage insurers to reject traditionally covered treatments. That’s already happening in states where assisted suicide is legal.

Dr. Brian Callister, a Nevada physician, reported earlier this year that two patients were denied routine treatments with 70 percent cure rates by their respective California and Oregon insurance companies, which offered coverage for assisted suicide instead. And again, once assisted suicide became legal in California, Stephanie Packer, a young mother with scleroderma, was denied her prescribed treatment but learned that her assisted suicide copay would be $1.20.

To read the John Kelly’s full article, go here.

Short videos of Dr. Brian Callister and Stephanie Packer talking about their experiences are here and here.

ASAN Announces 7th Annual Day of Mourning – Join in 2018 Events Across U.S.

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Not Dead Yet is honored to be a partner in the seventh annual Day of Mourning, first inaugurated by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network in 2012. Here is ASAN’s announcement of the 2018 Day of Mourning:

In the past five years, over 550 people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents, relatives or caregivers.

On Thursday, March 1st, the disability community will gather across the nation to remember these disabled victims of filicide – disabled people murdered by their family members or caregivers.

In the year since our last vigil, our community has lost over 100 more people to filicide. These are just the cases that we are aware of – since we began monitoring this issue, we learn about more murders every week. We read the victims’ names, see their photographs, and gather what information we can about their lives. The criminal justice system has continued to give lighter sentences to parents and caregivers who murder disabled children. And we have seen both news and entertainment media continue to portray these murders in a sympathetic light.

We hold the Day of Mourning vigils to draw attention to these injustices, to commemorate the lives of victims, and demand justice and equal protection under the law for all people with disabilities. This would not be possible without the vital work of our volunteer site coordinators. Click here to learn about what site coordinators do, or to sign up to lead a vigil.

Since 2012, ASAN, ADAPT, Not Dead Yet, the National Council on Independent Living, the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, the American Association of People with Disabilities, and other disability rights organizations have come together to send a clear message that disability is not a justification for violence. We’ll be at our local vigils on Thursday, March 1st – and we hope to see you there.

If you’re interested in leading a vigil in your area, please sign up to be a Day of Mourning vigil site coordinator.