Convenient Deaths, Inconvenient Lives

By Gil Ott and Linda Richman

We've got some shocking news for you: You're going to die. What's more, death will probably come at the wrong time, with some pain, forcing you to leave important things undone. Chances are also good that you will experience disability, perhaps long before you die.

Does this surprise you? Probably not. Most people don't spend much time thinking about death. We think about other people's deaths, but deny our own; our society indulges in a mass denial of the fact.

What may surprise you is that most people with disabilities and chronic diseases don't think about death all the time either. We may have come closer to it, and may be reminded of it daily, but we live our lives like anyone else, and we dream and work for better times.

There could hardly be anything more personal than one's own death. It is the ultimate affirmation of the solitary nature of existence. For those who choose to end their own lives, there could be no more personal decision.

You might think we're about to endorse Dr. Kevorkian, who promises to assist folks facing this personal crisis. Quite the opposite. People with disabilities regard Kevorkian as a mass murderer.

The problem comes in when societal attitudes about death impinge on this very personal moment. As people with disabilities, we're sick of hearing how "brave" we are. What we often hear from the able-bodied death-deniers goes something like "If I had what you have, I'd kill myself."

In reality, the Kevorkian phenomenon takes personal choice out of suicide. People with disabilities fight every day to overcome the societal attitudes which would see them dead, gone, out of the way. Here's a guy who wants to do society's bidding.

Seen as an expansion of individual rights, euthanasia has caught on among progressives. Hitler had similar notions, and utilized the disabled to try out his ovens. People with disabilities are too much trouble. They remind us of our own fallibility. They cost too much and get in the way. They'd be better off dead.

Like abortion or racism, euthanasia is a "hot button" issue that is being superbly mishandled by American democracy. We simply do not have the institutions to conduct the concerted dialogue this kind of issue requires.

Each suicide marks society's loss. With the rise of the disability rights movements over the past two decades, people with disabilities are proving themselves to be valuable contributors to their communities. Yet the dominant attitude remains that we are to be pitied, or, when we demand our rights, that we're a pain in the ass.

These attitudes are perpetuated by clowns like Jerry Lewis, whose poster children never drool and never grow up, and Christopher Reeve, who insists disability is just a temporary inconvenience. Most diabolically, Kevorkian weighs in with the (final) solution.

It isn't up to society to place value on human life and to devalue some of us. People with disabilities should not be made to feel that they should kill themselves because they are perceived to have no value and they are inconvenient to have around.

We can't suggest an easy answer. Each person who experiences disability struggles for one every day, an answer cut exactly to his or her needs. But as a society, we need to closely examine the causes we embrace for possible discrimination.

Try putting yourself into the shoes of a person with a disability. There are 54 million of us in America today. Chances are good you'll join us sooner or later.

Linda Richman and Gil Ott are, respectively, vice president and director of development of Liberty Resources, an organization which promotes civil rights for people with disabilities. Comments about this Slant, or submissions can be e-mailed City Paper news editor Howard Altman, altman@citypaper.net.