A group of disability rights campaigners and academics have urged MPs and peers to back the legalisation of assisted dying, saying everyone deserves the chance of a good death.
Led by Tom Shakespeare, an author, broadcaster and professor of disability research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the group told parliamentarians they stood “in solidarity with terminally ill people who want to have the option of an assisted death”.
Concerns about the value society places on the lives of disabled people are often cited by opponents of assisted dying. Many point to a powerful documentary, Better Off Dead?, made by the actor Liz Carr, that argued the legalisation of assisted dying would pose huge risks to disabled people.
But Shakespeare and his seven co-signatories say disabled people are not a homogeneous group.
In the letter to MPs and peers they say: “We know some prominent disabled people in the media and politics oppose assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults, but polling suggests this is a minority view.
“We ask you to remember that disabled people are a diverse community of individuals with rich life experiences that encompass and surpass our identity as disabled people. Yet in this debate, as sadly happens in many areas of our lives, we are too often spoken over.”
An Opinium poll carried out for the campaign group Dignity in Dying earlier this year found that almost four out five disabled people supported the legalisation of assisted dying.
The letter said: “We firmly believe that we all deserve a good life, where we all have what we need to thrive, with the autonomy and control to make decisions about our own lives: in other words, independent living. When we reach the end of our lives, we all also deserve a good death, with a full range of choices over what that looks like.”
It added: “We do not support assisted dying except in the case of terminal illness … We think disabled people are safe with the proposed law: the assisted dying for terminal illness legislation has not been widened in Oregon, Washington or other US states.”
A private member’s bill tabled by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater that would legalise assisted dying for mentally competent, terminally ill adults is expected to be debated by MPs next month. If it is backed in an initial vote, the bill will then undergo detailed scrutiny by committee.
Although campaigners for assisted dying expect there to be a significant shift in favour of legalisation since MPs voted overwhelmingly against it in 2015, the outcome of the debate is uncertain.
The letter was also signed by Lucy Aliband, a former trustee for Disability Rights UK; Sarah Brinton, the former president of the Liberal Democrats; James Catmur, a risk management consultant; Stephen Duckworth, an entrepreneur; Shana Pezaro, a campaigner and patient advocate; Martin Stevens, a former chair of Disability Rights UK; and Nick Watson, a professor of disability research at the University of Glasgow.
