Disability advocate barred from participating in Scotland assisted suicide debate

A campaigner with a disability who was set to debate assisted suicide in Scotland at Edinburgh University was forced to withdraw after organizers held the debate in a building that was not wheelchair accessible.

Key Takeaways:

• A bill legalizing assisted suicide is currently making its way through the Scottish Parliament.

• Under the bill, anyone 16 or older with a terminal illness and a prognosis of less than six months to live would be eligible for assisted suicide.

• The bill has already passed an initial vote.

• Dr. Miro Griffiths, an academic and campaigner who uses a wheelchair, was invited to a debate on assisted suicide at Edinburgh University. Griffith takes the position that the assisted suicide bill will disproportionately impact those with disabilities.

• Griffiths had to withdraw after the Edinburgh Union chose to hold the debate in Rainey Hall, which has no wheelchair access.

The Details:

According to The Herald, a panel of students, politicians, and medical experts gathered to debate the issue of legalizing assisted suicide. The debate was on the motion, "This House Welcomes the Legalisation of Assisted Dying." Dr. Miro Griffiths, who is also the spokesman for Better Way, opposes assisted suicide, arguing it puts people with disabilities at risk. But he couldn't attend the debate because it was held in a building with no wheelchair access.

"People would feel pressure to die due to inequality; coercion of vulnerable people could not be ruled out; and eligibility criteria would be challenged in the courts," he said after the bill passed its first vote.

And he noted it was a cruel kind of irony that a person with a disability would be left out of a debate on the issue:

“It wasn’t a surprise, because there are so many inaccessible spaces. However, it was quite poignant that I couldn’t attend, given the impact of this bill on disabled people.

I don’t have any ill will towards the students organising this debate, but the fact there wasn’t an accessible space is demonstrative of the view society holds about disabled people. It is a reflective example of unequal spaces in society.

Disabled people often struggle to make their voices heard, and that has an impact on how they view themselves and whether or not they feel their life is worth living.”

The Edinburgh Union pleaded ignorance, claiming it was merely an unfortunate accident that Rainey Hall couldn't accommodate a person with a disability. The hall, built in 1900, does not have any wheelchair ramps. Other venues on campus, however, are wheelchair accessible. The Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre, for example, is wheelchair accessible.

Why It Matters:

Disability advocates have been speaking out against the bill in Scotland, pointing out that it is dangerous for those with disabilities.

Chelsea Roff, a researcher and founder of Eat Breathe Thrive, is an anorexia survivor who had a stroke due to severe anorexia, and now works to help others with eating disorders. She wrote a research paper pointing out that patients with eating disorders, many of them teenagers and young adults, are already being euthanized in countries like Belgium and the Netherlands.

Roff pointed out that under the current bill, a diabetic young adult who chooses to stop taking insulin — therefore becoming "terminally ill" — would qualify for assisted suicide. She stated:

“Are you okay with a 19-year-old young man who decides to discontinue treatment qualifying under this bill? Those are the questions you have to ask.

I’m not in principle against this bill, but you have to look at the letters on the page because they will be interpreted after the bill is passed and your constituents are depending on you.

The question before you is, ‘Could this bill have knock-on effects that affect some of your most vulnerable constituents?… How many deaths are you okay with?’

If the safeguards fail once, that is a human being who maybe in a despairing moment was handed a lethal medication instead of the care and the treatment and the health they need. That’s what we’re talking about. So you really have to get this right because those people are depending on you.”

Dr. Griffiths has likewise noted that many people with disabilities are likely to think assisted suicide is their only choice, due to a lack of resources and support. He explained that he is not only “overwhelmingly against the principles, but also the various clauses set out within the bill, primarily because of my concerns of how it coalesces with the systemic injustices faced by the disabled people’s communities in the UK."

The Bottom Line:

In numerous countries, the so-called "right to die" quickly becomes a duty to die, with vulnerable people — the disabled, the poor, the elderly — are robbed of health care and support. They are often made to feel that their suicidal ideations are worth acting upon, because their lives cost the system too much money — and therefore, are simply not worth saving.