right betty we must educate people about our great life hope they understand
----- Original Message -----
From: Betty Alfred <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 1999 4:22 AM
Subject: Re: assisted suicide (long response - get coffee)


> In a message dated 09/10/1999 12:08:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> << What do you think about assisted suicide ? >>
>
> I have said elsewhere that I don't think our society is sufficiently
advanced
> to have proper regard for legalized physician assisted suicide.  We always
> seem to be given the "intractable pain" scenario when asked to consider
this
> issue, but there is another, more insidious consideration.  May I use my
own
> experience as an example?
>
> When I first became disabled, the first six months or so were a blur of
> confusion, but eventually I adjusted, and adapted quite well.  As soon as
I
> found out about the wonderful world of wheelchairs, nothing could stop me.
I
> remember being confused and a bit spacy (I progressed so quickly that I
could
> track the changes from week to week for a while), but really, I don't
recall
> ever being devastated.  It was not until I had a new boss who treated me
with
> open and sadistic disdain, and lost my second job, which was like a family
> situation, that I became devastated.  I was suicidal for several months,
and
> it was the most profound experience I have ever had.  This had nothing to
do
> with my disability -- nothing.
>
> I had a difficult time convincing people outside of the disability
community
> that this was a consequence of losing my community.  I just couldn't
convince
> them.  Nondisabled people are so certain that life with a disability is a
> terrible thing, that their opinion would not be swayed.  There was such
> little regard for the actual causal factors, that any wound that exists
now
> has to do with the fact that they are perfectly willing to see this happen
> again to anyone.  As far as I can tell, those around me who are
nondisabled,
> or who are not attached to the disability community, have learned nothing.
>
> If I had committed suicide for the purpose of making a permanent statement
> about this; if I had sent a detailed letter explaining my reasons to the
> Washington Post, Times, and all the major papers in the world; if I had
set
> myself on fire in front of the White House, I would have achieved nothing,
> except to feed a misconception that I could not adjust to a disability.
They
> just do not listen.
>
> Why didn't I do it?  Well, for one thing, my immediate family has a
suicide
> under it's belt already.  Sometimes I lived with this agony knowing what
> agony comes to a family when a member dies this way.  For another thing,
by
> this time, I had met people in the disability community who stuck with me;
> two families are right on this list, and one is in my immediate area.
They
> both ministered to me and showed me that there is a community here.  I
also
> had other disability resources through the Internet.  This was the time I
> needed physical contact with people the most, but I knew that good people
> were there, even if I couldn't touch them.  Third, I was scared to take
that
> final action.  I thought about ways to do it, and came up with a plan, but
I
> was scared to really do it.
>
> Life is good now, but If I had suffered an injury that put me in a
position
> to need a doctor's help to die, that doctor just might have helped me die.
I
> do not believe that nondisabled doctors have any more understanding of our
> issues than the nondisabled, nonmedical community, although there are
> exceptions to every rule.
>
> Now I acknowledge one great benchmark in my life: not the one separating
my
> nondisabled life from my life as a person with a disability, but the one
> separating the time before I wanted to die, and the time after.  I will
never
> look at my nondisabled neighbors the same way again -- ever.
>
> There are intractable pain situations, and my heart goes out to these
people.
>  My story is just one story.  But at this time, the question for me
becomes:
> How many more people will die needlessly if physician assisted suicide is
> sanctioned by law?  My other question is this: For the people with
> disabilities who consider suicide, or who have considered suicide as the
> solution, why do they want to die?  What are the reasons?  Is it because
of
> the disability itself?  Or is it because of society's dismissal, or lack
of
> proper regard for them?  If it is because of the latter, then we have much
> work to do in each of our communities to educate our nondisabled
neighbors.
> Maybe we need to take the bull by the horns and shake these people for all
> they're worth when we are talking with them about this.
>
> With your permission, I have attached a study that came to me some time
ago
> on a listserv for people with disabilities in the Commonwealth of Virginia
> (USA).  The comment in the first paragraph seems to be in line with my
> opinion about this.
>
> If you got this far, you deserve a medal -- thanks for reading my story.
>
> Betty Alfred
>
>  <A
>
HREF="http://www.tell-us-your-story.com/_disc58r/00000014.htm#ARCHIVES">Lovi
ng
>  my disability</A>
>
>
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> *************************
> THE REAL FACTS ABOUT DISABILITY AND "QUALITY OF LIFE
> "86% of spinal cord injured high-level quadriplegics rated their quality
of
> life as average or better than average.  Only 17% of their ER doctors,
> nurses, and technicians thought they would have an average or better
quality
> of life if they acquired quadriplegia (KA Gerhart et al., Annals of
> Emergency Medicine, 1994, vol. 23, 807-812).
>
> No differences were found between 190 physically disabled persons and 195
> "able bodied" persons on ratings of life satisfaction, frustration with
life
> or mood (P Cameron et al., Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,
> 1973, vol. 41, 207-214).
>
> The duration of disability was positively related with acceptance of
> disability in persons with spinal cord injury-related paralysis.  Severity
> of disability was of no importance in accepting life with a disability (F.
> Woodrich & JB Patterson, Journal of Rehabilitation, 1983, July-Sept.,
> 26-30).
>
> 60% of paraplegics reported feeling more positively about themselves since
> becoming disabled (C Ray & J West, Paraplegia, 1984, vol. 22, 75-86).
>
> Interviews and tests administered to 133 persons with severe mobility
> disabilities revealed no differences between them and the nondisabled norm
> on psychosocial measures. In another study, no significant difference was
> found between persons with severe disabilities (requiring wheelchair use
and
> daily personal assistance) and persons with no disabilities on quality of
> life measures (R Stensman, Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation
Medicine,
> 1985, vol. 17, 87-99).
>
> In a study of life satisfaction of quadriplegics, fewer than a third of
> those who used ventilators expressed dissatisfaction with their lives.
> There is evidence that life satisfaction scores are higher in persons who
> have had more time to adjust to disability (JR Bach & MC Tilton,  Archives
> of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 1994, vol. 75, 626-632).
>
> Spinal cord injured rehabilitation patients were similar to the general
> population on self-ratings of depression, yet hospital staff consistently
> overestimated the patients' level of depression (LA Cushman & MP Dijkers,
> Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 1990, vol. 71, 191-196.
>
> Three-quarters of persons with spinal cord injuries rated their quality of
> life as good or excellent.  Amount of paralysis made no difference, but
> people who used ventilators rated their quality of life higher than those
> not needing ventilators (GG Whiteneck et al., Rocky Mountain Spinal Cord
> Injury System Report to the National Institute of Handicapped Research,
> 1985, 29-33.
>
> Elderly paralyzed veterans rated their quality of life higher than
similarly
> aged men without disabilities (MG Eisenberg & CC Saltz)."
>
> Paraplegia, 1991, vol. 29, 514-
>
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> *************************