Disabled People as Pawns in the Medical Aid in Dying Debate
How the Right Capitalizes on a Divided Disability Community
UPDATED: MAY 29, 2022
One of the individuals at the centre of the recent Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) controversies is in the news again; since I believe so strongly that disability activists are making a serious tactical mistake by suggesting that MAiD is coercive or somehow forced by the state onto disabled people, I decided to take the paywall off this post.
With recent news of two individuals who have pursued Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) because they were unable to find appropriate housing opportunities, given their complex disabilities, the debate over MAiD rages yet again.1 And to be honest, I'm really, really uncomfortable with the sudden focus on MAiD as a target of disability activists, who, despite having the best of intentions, provide the very arguments that conservatives love to use in order to discredit MAiD as an acceptable option for those who need it.
It's genuinely possible to support a wide application of MAiD while also wanting disabled people to have access to safe, secure, affordable, housing; adequate financial and social supports to allow disabled people to thrive in their communities; and extra supports for disabled people throughout the health care system, especially as they navigate complex diagnosis upon diagnosis in a system set up for quick and easy wins. The fact that someone is pursuing MAiD is not the problem. The problem is that they don't have the appropriate supports to live a good life.
Unfortunately, going after Medical Aid in Dying in the zeal to support disabled people only hurts other disabled people who don't have many, if any, options left. Every attack on MAiD from the disability community is an attack co-opted as pity-style speaking points at the next Conservative leadership race fundraising BBQ. They're talking about it, that's for sure, but they're not talking about how to make life better for disabled people. Here’s Ontario’s Conservative Premier Doug Ford, currently on the campaign trail, when asked about his plans for disabled people:
Meanwhile, Ford’s government made it more difficult for disabled people to access ODSP, clawing back more money from employment and ending important benefits, including the cancellation of the Basic Income Pilot immediately upon ascending to the Premiership. While making life harder for disabled people, these folks pat themselves on the back because ‘they stopped horrible euthanasia from murdering disabled people.’ A few days after this comment, the Ontario PCs indicated that they would be increasing ODSP rates by 5%, which is to say, by inflation.
Every time a disability advocate, like Rabia Kehdr, ED of Disability without Poverty says, with dramatic flair, "People with disabilities are choosing to die with dignity rather than live without it,” conservatives ready their policy knives. What’s more, the evidence suggests that those who have chosen MAiD in Canada between 2016 and 2018 were overwhelmingly wealthier than the average population, were more likely to be younger and married.
"There has been a lot of emphasis on concerns that individuals who could be influenced, or who might be considered vulnerable in some other way, might be overly represented in the statistics of those receiving MAID," said Susan Desjardins, chair of the Ottawa chapter of Dying with Dignity.
"I think this study makes it clear that's not the case."
A question to ask is why the story being pitched is MAiD <or> Housing, MAiD <or> ODSP/CPP-D increases, etc., and not something more nuanced, something that could meet the needs of a variety of disabled people. Who stands to gain from that framing, and how are disabled people ultimately pushed to the side in the name of existing, but false narratives about our ability to make our own choices?
The truth is that opponents of end-of-life choice are quick to capitalize on the idea that some are being ‘forced to kill themselves.’ In the same CBC article that noted that the data doesn’t back-up claims that the most vulnerable are being pushed towards MAiD, Ray Pennings, executive vice-president of faith-based think tank Cardus, says,
"This looks at the accessibility of MAID for those who desire it, and that's important, but equally important is putting forward provisions in which those who are not seeking MAID are protected from being pressured into having it," he said.
Despite a lack of evidence that people are being forced into MAiD, whether by social considerations or other more coercive situations, conservatives will always fall back on the old canard, ‘what if someone forces them to die?’
I know my post won't be popular with some, and that's fine. I just think that, as a disabled person, I would like the widest latitude of options to choose to end my life, with a doctor's support, if needed. I would also like to see governments using the widest possible latitude of options to support disabled people who want to live and thrive in their communities.
Real support for disabled people isn't found in words, fancy phrases, coloured shirt days, or corporate-sponsored awareness events. It's found in real, cold, hard cash to people who regularly live far below the poverty line, most of whom are incapable of work, and for whom work often imposes extreme indignities.
This Ontario provincial election, ask your candidates what they plan on doing to help disabled people thrive in Ontario. In particular, ask every major party - including the Ontario New Democrats, who are proposing a 20% increase in rates - why their ODSP proposals still leave us behind ODSP rates from the Mike Harris years.
And ask your federal MP why we don't yet have the promised Canada Disability Benefit, despite all party support for it. Credit goes to Kitchener Centre Green MP Mike Morrice for holding each of the three major parties feet to the fire. They shouldn’t need to be held accountable for their promises, but here we are.
And finally, ask your MPs to keep their hands off MAiD. Don't punish future disabled people by taking away their choices instead of doing the right thing and funding disabled people to thrive. Don't settle for MAiD as a victim in this fight. Future disabled people will thank you.
This post was for originally published for subscribers on May 15th, and is an example of what you can expect from reader supported content. Until May 31, you can get a 7 Day Free Trial by clicking the lionk below. Your readership and financial support for my work is deeply appreciated. 🙏🏻
While two similar sounding stories have been in the news recently, it is important to note that several anecdotes do not evidence make. They may indicate that further study and exploration is required to arrive at a body of evidence, but two complex circumstances cannot, themselves, to be taken as proof that the Canadian MAiD system is set up to force people to choose between housing and end-of-life care.