Hawaii Disability Rights Advocates

Oppose Assisted Suicide

Their reasons are Civil Rights, not religion.

Here’s why:

• Consider the reasons given for suicide, both by the assisted suicide advocates and by the people in Oregon who have asked for assisted suicide.
• In the modern day, the reasons are seldom pain – unremitting pain is now a rare problem for terminally ill patients who get good medical care.
• The reasons are dependence on others, shame of disability, and a fear of being a burden.
• In other words, the reasons given for suicide are DISABILITY!
• Many newly disabled people have suicidal thoughts. But these are temporary.

Some of us are disgusted with our new selves, until we learn that life does not end when disability begins. Everyone is dependent on others. Disability is just one more dependency. It is not the end of meaningful life. We can learn to cope with disability and dependency just like we learn to cope with life’s other problems.

• Legalizing assisted suicide would say this: Disability is a good reason to commit suicide. We reject this message.

DEATH IS NOT BETTER THAN DISABILITY!

The “Safeguards” and why we do not trust them:

• There are many reasons to distrust the 6-month safeguard. Here is one that is unique to the Disability Rights Movement:
• The 6-month safeguard still implies that Death is better than Disability … it only withholds the “assistance” with suicide from disabled people who have more than six months to live.
• What does that say to the rest of us, who have 20, 30, or 40 years to live with a disability?
• It DOES NOT say that our lives are worth living! If Death is better than 6 months of Disability, then Death is even more better than 40 years of disability!

National Disability Rights Organizations

that oppose assisted suicide:

· American Association of People with Disabilities

· ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights

· ADAPT

· Center on Disability and Health

· Center for Self-Determination

· Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund

· National Disabled Students Union

· National Organization on Disability

· National Spinal Cord Injury Association

· TASH

· Not Dead Yet

Not Dead Yet was formed specifically to oppose assisted suicide from the Disability Rights perspective. It is the disability community’s definitive source on the implications of public policy and media activity related to euthanasia and assisted suicide. Here is its web site, and other information sources:

http://www.notdeadyet.org/

http://disweb.org/cda/issues/pas/golden1.html

http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/

This opinion sheet was prepared for the 1/22/2005 Legislative Talk-Story on the Big Island. It was written by Ron Amundson, Secretary of Disability Rights Hawaii, a grassroots nonprofit Disability Rights organization based in Hilo. The Board of Directors of DRH has voted to join the many national Disability Rights groups that oppose physician assisted suicide on the civil rights grounds discussed above. Ron Amundson and Pat Lockwood, State Director of the Hawaii Centers for Independent Living, will soon be submitting an Op-Ed piece on the topic to the Honolulu Advertiser and Star-Bulletin.

Contact:

Ron Amundson (ronald@hawaii.edu)

c/o Disability Rights Hawaii

P. O. Box 5575

Hilo, HI 96720