Media and Societal Perceptions of disability
Policies and programs are born out of a popular environment. Images in the media reinforce a negative perception of life with disability that helps to justify euthanasia or withdrawal of life sustaining or curative therapies for people with disabilities. Film, TV drama and literature often use disability as a method of representing dependency, lack of autonomy, and tragedy. These images influence our common sense understanding of disability which goes on to shape end of life care for people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations. Carol Gill argues, "media stories of non-sentient or suffering people helplessly tethered to tubes and machines are the horror tales of our age." 25
Public and media discussion is dominated by the concept of ‘the right to die with dignity’ which reinforces the belief that "some forms of living are too burdensome, too hopeless, or too unaesthetic to merit support."26 This is further supported by an increasing intolerance for human limitation and glorification of the perfect body throughout the media.
The Critically acclaimed and popular film, Million Dollar Baby is a prominent example of the focus of the disability rights movement’s concern with discussions of the right to die and portrayals of life with a disability which influence end of life care. The film portrays "a relatively young person with a disability, who could live for several years with the condition, but who instead, asks to die" and reinforces the belief that life with a disability is a tragedy. The film does not question how the obvious bad care the main character received and the social isolation her living situation in an institution contributed to her despair. As a result her decision to die is portrayed as completely reasonable and merely reinforces widespread assumptions and legitimates bad care.27
Why do people with disabilities see euthanasia as an issue for palliative care?
Our society is filled with negative messages and images of life with disability which not only negatively impact the self esteem of people with disabilities but also shape the way society acts towards them. This in turn shapes the type of care people with disabilities receive at end of life and limits the choices people have when making end-of life decisions. Harvey Chochinov and Deborah Stienstra point out that "rational decision making about the value of one's life becomes difficult when individuals have internalized years of public devaluation." 28
The current system all too readily offers the choice of death to people with disabilities; assisted suicide laws give the right to choose death but not life and as a result increase vulnerability and not autonomy.29 In order to be able to make autonomous choices accommodations that enable people to continue having meaningful roles in society need to be made available before they are given the choice to die.
A number of legal cases in the United States and Canada have shown that there is far greater support in our society, in policy and law, for the right to choose death than the right to choose life. 30.
At VP-Net’s 2006 Spring institute Jim Derksen, a leader in the disability community in Canada, and Harvey Chochinov, co-Principal Investigator of the VP-Net team, discussed the issue of euthanasia and the disability movement’s concern. Jim Derksen explained that the Latimer case, and the widespread public support for Robert Latimer, illustrated a power imbalance that exists in society that devalues the lives of people with disabilities. Derksen pointed out that Robert Latimer refused medical interventions for his daughter that could have helped her. Instead he used her supposed ‘suffering’ resulting from the use of assistive devices or interventions to justify his own actions in killing her. Derksen explained why this case has been a lightening rod in the disability community in Canada.31
Research has shown the desire to die among people facing increasing impairment stems more from a fear of burdening others, loss of enjoyable activities, loss of autonomy, and loss of dignity, than concerns about physical pain or finances.32 Research has also shown that persons without close family or emotional supports are more likely to request physician assisted suicide than married or widowed people. This indicates that the psychological and emotional impact of dying alone is an important factor in the decision making of people in end of life care. These factors need to be weighted more heavily by palliative care providers when faced with a request for assisted suicide.33
[ Back to Rejecting Vulnerability ]
[ Top ]
