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Disabled activists raise concerns over proposed assisted dying bill

Disabled activists urge Parliament to vote against the Assisted Dying Bill.
George Fielding BEM says disabled people already feel like a burden to their families or caregivers
George Fielding BEM says disabled people already feel like a burden to their families or caregivers

Exclusive: Disability activists have demanded MPs to choose “assistance to live before assistance to die” ahead of a historic free vote in the House of Commons later this month. 

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is introducing the Private Member’s Bill, claiming that “now is the time” to bring the issue to a free vote. If passed, it would represent the most significant social reform in the UK since the 1967 Abortion Act. 

The proposed legislation is expected to allow adults in England and Wales, who are terminally ill with a life expectancy of less than six months, an option to end their lives with medical assistance.

The bill is set to be formally introduced on 16 October, with a debate and initial vote before Christmas. For it to become law, it would need to be approved by MPs and peers in both chambers of Parliament.

Despite having the backing of prime minister Keir Starmer, disability charities and activists have told Politics UK that the policy gives way to a “slippery slope that puts even more vulnerable people at risk.”

Actor and presenter of the BBC’s documentary ‘Better Off Dead?’ Liz Carr has warned against this bill.

Actor Liz Carr is against assisted dying

The Not Dead Yet activist exclusively told Politics UK: “For many disabled people the assumption that we’d be ‘Better Off Dead’ is something that we get used to hearing. This commonly held belief that death is preferable to being disabled, reminds us that there is inequality in life – and death – for disabled people. Against this backdrop, we do not believe that any safeguard can adequately protect us from coercion, abuse, mistake and discrimination. We believe that if assisted suicide is legalised, disabled, ill and older people risk being devalued to death.”

George Fielding BEM, a disability rights activist and former head of a social care company, said: “One of my primary concerns is that legalising assisted suicide could lead to coercion and pressure on disabled individuals to end their lives prematurely. 

“In a society that often devalues and marginalises disabled people, it is not difficult to imagine scenarios where individuals feel like they are a burden to their families or caregivers. The mere existence of legally assisted suicide could send the message that ending one’s life is an acceptable solution to these feelings rather than addressing the underlying societal attitudes and lack of support.

“As a society, we entrust doctors with the sacred duty to preserve life and alleviate suffering. Legalising assisted suicide would fundamentally alter this role, turning doctors into active participants in ending patients’ lives. This could undermine trust in the doctor-patient relationship, particularly for disabled individuals and others who already feel their lives are undervalued by society.”

Dermot Devlin, the founder of the accessibility directory My Way Access, admitted to Politics UK he is “scared” he’ll be forced into an assisted death.

“With my increased chronic pain, respiratory failure and mobility issues, what’s to say I won’t be eligible for a death sentence, and pushed into it?”

Dermot Devlin founded the accessibility directory My Way Access

The former Equality and Human Rights Commission director and social care consultant Neil Crowther told us Kim Leadbeater’s bill is “divorced from reality.”

He added: “[Disabled people] fear that passing this law risks legitimising alternative views, opening the space not only to its future expansion, as in other countries, but also undermining people’s hard won and already fragile and depleted rights to equality, inclusion and support.”

Dennis Queen, from Disabled People Against Cuts, added: “MPs seem unaware of what properly funded palliative care can achieve and are naive about what is possible through safeguards.”

However, Dignity in Dying, which campaigns for assisted dying to be made legal, said: “The British people are demanding an assisted dying law… this is now an undeniable fact and one this new generation of MPs is keenly aware of. The time for change has clearly come.”

Kim Leadbeater said: “While I am still having a lot of discussions about the precise contents of my Bill, I am very clear that it will apply only to terminally ill people approaching the end of their lives. It will not in any way undermine the rights of people with disabilities or other life challenges to be treated equally and to have the respect and support they are absolutely right to campaign for in order to live fulfilling lives.

“The Health and Social Care Select Committee looked at all the evidence in an enquiry lasting fourteen months which was published earlier this year. They found that in countries where laws similar to what I am proposing have been passed, including the US, Australia and New Zealand, there has been no ‘slippery slope’ and palliative care has improved alongside the choice for people to die at a time of their choosing.”

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