I can recall some time back the reactions of PC Olds and Christopher Reeve
to impairment, and having bought in so heavily to the able bodied paradigm
of two legs good, wheelchair bad, they were set up for failure, whereas my
mum, whose impairment crept up on her gradually did accept that a wheelchair
and living with daily assistance for for everything was still a positive way
to be when she had so much to do.
As for me my desire for suicide does not arise from my impairment but the
disability that is caused when this impairment meets a society which is
socially constructed in such a way that my vast accumulated efforts to do
something about my situation are set up for failure because they are
dependent not so much on other people, but on the existance of an equitable
and just society that does not treat people merely as economic units and
useless eaters.
And what is my impairment anyway? simply the faculty of being me, and living
in such an uncompromising way, that my world and the rest of the world exist
in parallel universes.
I guess that is the tao of the artist.
Poor old Tommy Chatterton eh, only remembered as the romantic image of death
in a painting, http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Death-Chatterton-L.jpg and
that is the trouble isn't it, even death is socially constructed, never more
so than now where a trip to the suicide clinic is the new black in "cutting
edge" media documentary.
Well cool it all you exploitative manipulative budding film directors out
there, snuff movies are not new, war correspondents have been making them
for ages.
They say "the revolution will not be telivised"
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ekHCOh6OqqE&feature=related but 15 minutes of
fame is not good enough for some, that they are clamouring to exit a media
constructed life by becoming part of it in death.
Therefore send not to ask the price of a Van Gogh painting, it was painted
for Thee.
Larry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mitzi Waltz
> Sent: 12 December 2008 10:54
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Assisted suicide
>
> I object completely to state-sanctioned assisted suicide, and
> feel extremely uncomfortable with it in any other form as well.
> For one thing, it sanctions the idea of suicide, full stop.
> And suicide is contagious--if one person in a family commits
> suicide, others in the family are more likely to do so as
> well. I have not seen any evidence that this well-known fact
> is any different in situations where health is cited as a
> reason. It could be the case, but as I haven't seen any
> contradictory evidence, I have to assume that it is so.
> Second, once the state or the medical establishment gets
> involved, you get official criteria for what kind of life is
> worth living. The pressure, subtle and otherwise, to make the
> "right" choice is definitely there. The current media
> campaign, which is quite concerted (for example, there have
> been funded seminar series in the US to convince film and TV
> writers to work "end of life issues"--usually around assisted
> suicide--into their scripts), is part of that pressure. It
> works best i it is internalised. It also obscures the fact
> that what people are usually reacting to is poor provision of
> social care (i.e., the services people need when they become
> disabled) and palliative care for those who have painful
> and/r terminal conditions. Until we get that stuff right, I
> think assisted suicide ought to be off the menu altogether,
> as how can one make an informed and logical choice under such
> circumstances? It's simply much cheaper to convince people to
> kill themselves off than to fund a health and social care
> system that allows them to live with dignity.
> BTW, I used to live in Oregon, one of the US states where
> physician-assisted suicide is legal. One of the interesting
> findings there is that palliative care was NOT offered as an
> option to most patients who approached doctors, nor were
> their psychiatric difficulties addressed. There is an
> excellent article by Herbert Hendin and Kathleen Foley,
> published in teh Michigan Law Review, that looks at the
> Oregon programme in detail--well worth reading (see
> www.spiorg.org/publications/HendinFoley_MichiganLawReview.pdf
> ). They have also written a book, published by Johns Hopkins
> Press, but I haven't read that. If memory serves, it was also
> notable that in Oregon women were more likely to approach
> doctors about assisted suicide, because women are rather less
> likely than men to have a full-time carer (otherwise known as
> a "wife") handy when they fall ill. Of course women also have
> lower incomes, fewer savings or assets to pay for carers
> with, and in the US system are less likely to have health
> insurance. And women are more likely to suffer from
> depression, which is usually a factor in assisted suicide.
> I am particularly distressed about the case of the young man
> who became disabled following an accident, and chose assisted
> suicide rather than life as a wheelchair user. Such things
> must be especially difficult for someone who was an athlete
> but with help and support people do adjust. I think in
> particular of a "murderball" player that my husband did a
> documentary on at Uni, a young athletic guy who worked
> through becoming quadriplegic following a football injury and
> is now an athlete again, and teaching part-time. What a contrast.
> Mitzi
>
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