1. Q and A: Not Dead Yet of Georgia 404-687-8890National NDY: www.notdeadyet.org© Eleanor Smith, 2012
What is Not Dead Yet of GA about?We’re about protecting disabled and older people from assisted suicide, lethal
medical neglect, involuntary withdrawal of life-sustaining medical care, encouragement to die, and “compassionate”
murder.
Why are you so adamant about your mission?
Because our lives and the lives of our disabled friends and loved ones are in danger. There’s a crucial
differencebetween the freedom to end one’s own life, which cannot be denied, and the freedom to have others end
one’s life, which endangers the lives of an identified group of people less valued by society.
When you’re a member of a group officially offered help to die, and a group designated not to receive medical
help given to others,it’seasy to start believing you don’t deserve to live.And it’s realistic to fear you will not receive life-
protecting medical help in an emergency room, hospital or nursing home. We proclaim that there is life after
disability,at any age—and that people with disabilities need encouragement to live, not die.
We seek equal access to suicide prevention, equal access to medical care, and consequencesfor murdering one’s
disabled child or spouse equal tomurdering peoplewho do not have disabilities.
Suppose someone is in the last stages of a terminal illness and then has a heart attack. Are you saying they should be
shocked back to life through aggressive, possibly painful measures?We ourselves would probably direct not to be
resuscitated in that circumstance. Any person can refuse surgery, dialysis, antibiotics, or other medical interventions.
But we’re aware that sometimes conditions mislabeled ‘last stages’ are far from last, and sometimes conditions
mislabeled ‘terminal’ are merely incurable, like many of our own conditions. And we know that people who develop
disabilities but are NOT terminally ill often feel suicidal because of negativecultural messages and inadequate financial
support; they need explicit positive messages and tangible assistance.
But what about people whose disability puts them in a position where they can’t kill themselves, like a quadriplegic
or a person with severe dementia?Isn’t it cruel not to help them die?The larger question too often ignored is, what can
and must be done to value people, including those with disabilities, and help them value themselves? Nevertheless,
people intent on killing themselves must take responsibility for their own suicide; otherwise, they endanger other
people with disabilities by adding to the attitudes, practices and even laws that devalue their lives. In fact, there are
several ways a quadriplegic could kill him- or herself, and the person with dementia may not want to die. Further,
people who believe they don’t want to live under certain circumstances must give clear, documented advance directives
about the medical treatments they do and do not want, although people who initially believe they would not want to
live with a disability often find that they do want to live.
Besides not permitting disabled or older people to be killed, what can people do to protect lives? Recognize that
quality of life is not fixed -– it varies depending on the presence or absence of help, love, respect, pain management and
money. Support high quality of life by advocating for policiesproviding the help disabled people need tosurvive
andthrive, in their individual ways. Actively challenge media pieces that imply ‘better dead than disabled’ or call for no
jail time when a distraught person kills a disabled family member. And support policies that promote a high quality of
life for non-disabled people---so that no one needs to envy or resent a good quality of life for disabled or older people.
Are you a politically right-wing organization? No, Not Dead Yet has participants from many political persuasions. We
ask people on the left, and organizations like the ACLU, who often frame death-dealing practices against people with
disabilities as simple ‘choice’, to take into account the impact of social oppression on people’s ‘choices’. We ask people
on the right, many of whom share our opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia, to advocate strongly for the
supports we need to sustain our lives: access to full health care and funding for the personal assistance many of us need
to maintain our independence to live in our communities.