I lived my first thirty years with no idea that the DRM existed. The Disability Rights Movement. It’s very existence turned my shame to pride. And the DRM has done that for millions of us, but millions more have no idea still.
“Better Dead Than Disabled” – that message permeates our culture, in the looks and the looks away.
But the DRM is here to stay. It’s tough as nails, and gentle as a whisper of love. And it’s needed like never before.
On so many fronts, the value of our lives is put into question. Threats to healthcare, to pre-existing condition coverage, “futility” policies, and forcing people of all ages into institutions, out of sight and out of mind. And offering doctor prescribed assisted suicide.
In an aging society, as Hemlock Society co-founder Derek Humphry wrote, “…economics, not the quest for broadened individual liberties or increased autonomy, will drive assisted suicide to the plateau of acceptable practice.”*
Our voice is needed now, needed to fight for our lives and the lives of others before they are lost to assisted suicide mistakes, coercion and abuse. Powerful articles by disability advocates on these dangers have been published in mainstream press across the country in the last two months.
Legislators in Maryland and New Jersey are expected to vote in the next days. Other states with active bills include Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Nevada, Maine, and more.
Please add your voice to our “resistance”, in whatever way you can.
* Derek Humphry & Mary Clement, “Freedom to Die: People, Politics and the Right to Die Movement” (2000).
I have been providing support in the form of advocacy and advice for approximately 25 years to disabled people living in many areas of the world and have observed the increasing fear of a coerced death.
As we are constantly reminded by regular examples, doctors are fallible beings and do make errors in both diagnoses and prognoses.
I was born with Retinoblastoma, a childhood cancer of the eye, that was not spotted until I was 6 months old. The day after diagnosis my right eye was removed.
Of course, my parents were extremely concerned and asked the surgeon for a prognosis.
He told my parents that they should “not plan for a first birthday party”.
However, I am now aged 69 and still causing just as much trouble as I was at the age of 6 months!
With the rapid advances made by medical sciences, we are now living to an age that people 50 years ago could only believe in their dreams.
As an independent advocate, I spend a great deal of time with those disabled people that I support and hear things that are often quite disturbing.
For instance, I am convinced that over those 25 years, more than a few people that I was supporting passed away by their own actions, solely because their families had pressured them into taking their own lives rather than being seen as a burden.
Only 10 years ago, hardly anyone raised the issue of Assisted Suicide with me but now, due to the fear engendered by advocates of Assisted Suicide, it is a regular feature of discussions.