Not Dead Yet, Press Release

Not Dead Yet the resistance in Black Gothic Lettering

7521 Madison St * Forest Park, IL 60130 * Voice/TTY: 708-209-1500 * Fax: 708-209-1735 * TTY: 708-209-1826

Today, disability advocates urged Hawaii senators to vote against the bill that would legalize assisted suicide in Hawaii. Eleven national disability organizations have taken a position against legalization of assisted suicide. A list of these organizations is attached. Many of them have chapters in Hawaii.

This disability opposition is not based on any religious perspective, and these organizations are strong supporters of civil rights. In fact, our opposition to legalization of assisted suicide is that it violates our right to equal protection of the law, and violates the Americans With Disabilities Act, to set up a double standard for the manner in which society responds to suicidal people, a two-tiered system whereby some people are given suicide intervention and others are given suicide assistance.

"This double-standard has already been proven to be a direct threat to the lives of people with disabilities, whether those disabilities are terminal or not, and disabled lives have already been lost," says Diane Coleman, president of Not Dead Yet. She also notes that both cancer and HIV/AIDS have been found to be disabilities under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

In Oregon, on which the opponents of our equality under the law rely most heavily, the state reports demonstrate: (1) that up to 466 days has passed between the request for a lethal prescription and death, so, clearly, people with non-terminal conditions (death in 180 days) are receiving lethal prescriptions; and (2) people are mostly requesting assisted suicide because of psycho-social issues, such as feeling like a burden on family, and fears about future loss of function associated with increases in disability. People with disabilities are very familiar with these issues from personal experience, and we do not consider it "choice" for a society to address these issues by ensuring the death of the individual.

Stephen Drake, Research Analyst and Not Dead Yet's media expert, expects that the viewpoint of the disability community will come as a surprise to Hawaii legislators. "Like so many Americans, they've been taken in by superficial and distorted press coverage of assisted suicide in general and in Oregon specifically."

If assisted suicide is such a good thing, if it's really about "autonomy," then why not make it available to all suicidal people, why just for old, ill and disabled people? Assisted suicide advocates call it "death with dignity," because they see disability as profoundly undignified. The discrimination inherent in assisted suicide laws, the devaluation of old, ill and disabled people at the heart of these laws, and the fear and revulsion toward disability in the pro-assisted suicide leadership, must be rejected. As our society ages, medical killing cannot be the answer to the challenges that await us.

Not Dead Yet is a national disability rights group, based in Forest Park, IL.

LIST OF DISABILITY GROUPS OPPOSED TO ASSISTED SUICIDE

American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) - ADAPT advocates for the civil rights of people with disabilities, old and young, to receive long term care services in the community instead of being warehoused in nursing homes and institutions.

Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) - APRIL is the national association of centers for independent living, statewide independent living councils, and other organizations working with people with disabilities living in rural areas.

Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) - DREDF is the leading force in education and legal enforcement of the ADA and other laws that prohibit discrimination based on disability.

Justice For All - Justice For All and its extensive email network were formed to defend and advance disability rights and programs in the U.S. Congress.

National Council on Disability - The National Council on Disability (NCD) is an independent federal agency making recommendations to the President and Congress on issues affecting 54 million Americans with Disabilities.

National Council on Independent Living - NCIL is the national association of hundreds of consumer-controlled Centers for Independent Living, non-residential grassroots advocacy and service organizations operated by and for people with disabilities.

National Spinal Cord Injury Association - The National Spinal Cord Injury Association is an international nonprofit organization for people living with spinal cord injury. Their mission is to enable people with spinal cord injuries to make choices and take actions so that they might achieve their highest level of independence and personal fulfillment.

Not Dead Yet - NDY is a grassroots disability rights group formed to oppose the movement to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.

TASH - TASH is a civil rights organization for, and of, people with mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, physical disabilities and other conditions that make full integration a challenge.

World Association of Persons with Disabilities - WAPD advances the interests of persons with disabilities at national, state, local and home levels.

World Institute on Disability - WID is an international public policy center dedicated to carrying out cutting-edge research on disability issue and overcoming obstacles to independent living. It was founded by Ed Roberts, the "father" of the independent living movement.