{"id":289716,"date":"2023-04-24T14:43:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T19:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=289716"},"modified":"2023-04-22T16:57:26","modified_gmt":"2023-04-22T21:57:26","slug":"disability-rights-activist-assisted-suicide-scary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/disability-rights-activist-assisted-suicide-scary\/","title":{"rendered":"Assisted suicide is ‘very scary to disabled people’ in UK, says disability rights activist"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

As the United Kingdom considers<\/a> legalizing assisted suicide, disability rights activist and British peer Jane Campbell is speaking out against it. Campbell, a baroness and founder of Not Dead Yet UK<\/a>, spoke to the Independent<\/a> about the danger assisted suicide poses to people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

Campbell was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) as a child, with doctors predicting she would not survive past age two. Instead, Campbell has become a successful adult and has worked with the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the National Institute for Social Work. In 2007, she became a member of the House of Lords. And when she became a member of Parliament, she said many were taken aback by her appearance \u2014 and didn’t want to give her the treatment she needed as required by law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you present as I did about six years ago, having to wear a ventilator, it was as if that was it [in the minds of parliamentarians]. I should have been in intensive care because the only people they\u2019d ever seen like me were in intensive care or were very, very sick, or at the end of their lives. It took them a couple of years to not be afraid of me,” she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get to this point, I had a lot of fights along the way. The worst one was when they wouldn\u2019t allow me to bring a personal assistant to the chamber because no commoner had been across the bar since 1725 and that was a tradition, and if they gave me a PA then other people might want one. It was seen as a disproportionate benefit. I had to take my time explaining to them what a reasonable adjustment was. In the end I said look, here\u2019s the Equality Act, here are the areas that explain why nobody else will get the same provision. Grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell explained that assisted suicide being legalized will become a threat to disability rights.<\/p>\n

\"Walgreens<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c[Assisted suicide] is very scary to disabled people in this country. We depend on our doctors, on our caregivers, to give us help and support to live. To have faith in our lives because that helps us to have hope and enables us to encounter and overcome the barriers we have in our lives,” she said, adding, “I have the right support. Without it, you\u2019re without hope. You\u2019re a burden on those that you love, because even if they love you, it\u2019s hard work. You want your freedom. You need that support. We don\u2019t live in a society that is that kind to disabled people.”<\/p>\n

And though assisted suicide advocates argue that it’s a matter of choice, she slammed that notion as a false dichotomy.<\/p>\n

“At the moment you either choose between assisted suicide or really bad support from a social care sector that\u2019s in crisis, so we\u2019re not getting it,” she said. “The NHS, it\u2019s in crisis too. There aren\u2019t enough nurses to support people with disabilities in hospital. Pain management and palliative care is insufficient. Get that right first, then we\u2019ll sit around the table and talk \u2013 but not before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell referenced Canada<\/a> and the Netherlands<\/a>, both countries where people with disabilities are eligible for, and often pressured into, euthanasia, and noted that already in the United Kingdom, doctors placed DNRs (do not resuscitate orders) in her chart on two occasions without<\/em> her consent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t listen,\u201d she said. \u201cSometimes I do feel like giving it all up. I have a life to lead, I\u2019ve friends, a husband, a godchild. I like to party. I\u2019m having my birthday party on coronation day. There\u2019ll be a barbecue and wine outside and the TV will be on inside for those that want to watch it. The choice will be theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you know that as little as $10 a month is enough to reach more than 3,000 people with the truth about abortion that no one else is telling them? Click here to start saving lives 365 days a year.<\/i><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the United Kingdom considers legalizing assisted suicide, disability rights activist and British peer Jane Campbell is speaking out against it. Campbell, a baroness and founder of Not Dead Yet UK, spoke to the Independent about the danger assisted suicide poses to people with disabilities. Campbell was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":289748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,4,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAssisted suicide is 'very scary to disabled people' in UK, says disability rights activist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""... 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