THE REAL FACTS ABOUT DISABILITY AND "QUALITY
OF LIFE"
(If only Kevorkian and others would read the research literature
before deciding it is reasonable to want to die when you have an extensive
disability!):
- 86% of spinal cord injured high-level quadriplegics rated their quality
of life as average or better than average. Only 17% of their ER doctors,
nurses, and technicians thought they would have an average or better quality
of life if they acquired quadriplegic (KA Gerhart et al., Annals
of Emergency Medicine, 1994, vol. 23, 807-812).
- No differences were found between 190 physically disabled persons and
195 "able bodied" persons on ratings of life satisfaction, frustration
with life or mood (P Cameron et al., Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 1973, vol. 41, 207- 214).
- The duration of disability was positively related with acceptance of
disability in persons with spinal cord injury-related paralysis. Severity
of disability was of no importance in accepting life with a disability
(F Woodrich & JB Patterson, Journal of Rehabilitation,
1983, July-Sept., 26-30).
- 60% of paraplegics reported feelings more positively about themselves
since becoming disabled (C Ray & J West, Paraplegia,
1984, vol. 22, 75-86).
- Interviews and tests administered to 133 persons with severe mobility
disabilities revealed no differences between them and the nondisabled norm
on psychosocial measures. In another study, no significant difference was
found between persons with severe disabilities (requiring wheelchair use
and daily personal assistance) and persons with no disabilities on quality
of life measures (R Stensman, Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation
Medicine, 1985, vol. 17, 87-99).
- In a study of life satisfaction of quadriplegics, fewer than a third
of those who used ventilators expressed dissatisfaction with their lives.
There is evidence that life satisfaction scores are higher in persons who
have had more time to adjust to disability (JR Bach & MC Tilton, Archives
of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 1994, vol. 75, 626-632).
- Spinal cord injured rehabilitation patients were similar to the general
population on self-ratings of depression, yet hospital staff consistently
overestimated the patients' level of depression (LA Cushman & MP Dijkers,
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 1990, vol.
71, 191-196.
- Three-quarters of persons with spinal cord injuries rated their quality
of life as good or excellent. Amount of paralysis made no difference, but
people who used ventilators rated their quality of life higher than those
not needing ventilators (GG Whiteneck et al., Rocky Mountain Spinal
Cord Injury System Report to the National Institute of Handicapped Research,
1985, 29-33.
- Elderly paralyzed veterans rated their quality of life higher than
similarly aged men without disabilities (MG Eisenberg & CC Saltz, Paraplegia,
1991, vol. 29, 514-520).
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