Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Disability hate crime - we need to listen

By Paul Russell - posted Monday, 1 August 2016


The story quickly fell off news websites. Only one journalist to my knowledge, Yuichi Sakaguchi, senior staff writer at the Nikkei Asian Review made the hate crime connection. Little wonder that Hingsburger should ask: Why isn't it a hate crime?

I think the answer goes deeper than 'they don't get it.' I think it's because, maybe a little, people see the logic of what he's done.

And that scares the hell out of me.

These fears are real; they are held by close and trusted friends and my own family.

Advertisement

And that's why people like Australian journalist and euthanasia enthusiast Andrew Denton's patronising dismissal of Joan Hume's concerns about euthanasia and disability on the ABC program Q and A a few months ago has angered many in the disability community.

You see, Denton visited places like Belgium, Holland and Oregon, where euthanasia and or assisted suicide is practiced under legal cover, and asked those who run peak bodies for disabled people and senior citizens if they knew of any abuses. He found none. I have been to Belgium and Holland too and I found the opposite. So, I guess we did not talk to the same people.

But here's the rub: the fears that come from hard experience don't really appear in empirical studies. These things are hard to measure. In terms of euthanasia and assisted suicide, there are plenty of anecdotes and assumptions that can be drawn from any number of cases that point to the reality that such discrimination and abuse does exist. A quiet word; an attitude; a suggestion; an expectation; a sense of burden; an assumption that life with disability is not a worthy life. It is only common sense to observe that such abuses defy empirical scrutiny.

We can't test everything that matters to us by studies and surveys. Sometimes we simply have to rely on the depth of sentiment held by those who feel the pain; who sense the risks. We accept those standards in so many other areas of social policy on discrimination but, somehow, when people living with disability raise their voices against euthanasia in similar terms they're told patronisingly that its not about them. But what is a terminal illness if not an acquired disability?

Such responses display precisely the same sort of ableism evident in the words of the Japanese killer. Ableism is defined as a set of practices and beliefs that assign inferior value (worth) to people who have developmental, emotional, physical or psychiatric disabilities. That some people are willing to decide for people with disability that their deep seated concerns are misguided and therefore not to be factored in to public policy settings fits that description.

Not that all people with disabilities have had such negative experiences of ableist discrimination that instinctively creates deep reservations about euthanasia and assisted suicide; but many do. Craig Wallace, former President of People With Disabilities Australia is one such articulate voice. Craig tweeted frequently and noted the lack of outrage at the Japanese hate crime:

Advertisement

Oh and I'll consider euthanasia when people change their Facebook profiles to mourn the disabled victims. Why aren't they?

Indeed.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. All

This article was first published on Hope.



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

4 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Paul Russell is the Director of HOPE: preventing euthanasia & assisted suicide www.noeuthanasia.org.au.


Paul is also Vice Chair of the International Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Paul Russell

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Photo of Paul Russell
Article Tools
Comment 4 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy