{"id":2562,"date":"2018-02-23T15:39:29","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T15:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=2562\/"},"modified":"2019-02-25T20:00:42","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T20:00:42","slug":"webcast-archive-vulnerability-and-assisted-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/02\/webcast-archive-vulnerability-and-assisted-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast archive: \u201cVulnerability\u201d and assisted suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1180\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7yLcU_OwAEw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this episode of\u00a0<em>Euthanasia &amp; Disability<\/em>, Amy Hasbrouck, Christian Debray and Taylor Hyatt discuss:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cVulnerability\u201d and assisted suicide<\/li>\n<li>Disability Day of Mourning on March 1<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please note that this text is only a script and that our webcast contains additional commentary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cVULNERABILITY\u201d AND ASSISTED SUICIDE<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This week, we\u2019re looking at the idea of \u201cvulnerability:\u201d what it is, how it relates to disability, and how the meaning of \u201cvulnerable\u201d has changed in response to the legalization of assisted suicide.<\/li>\n<li>Vulnerability is connected to assisted suicide and euthanasia (AS\/E) because the Supreme Court has said that vulnerable people need to be protected from being convinced to commit suicide in a time of weakness.\u00a0 One definition of vulnerability is \u201cbeing at risk of harm.\u201d In her presentations on the subject, Catherine Frazee \u2013 a disability scholar and Professor Emerita at Ryerson University \u2013 has said that everyone is vulnerable in some ways, at some times, but some situations can make people especially vulnerable.\u00a0 They include:\n<ul>\n<li>Being homeless, in an institution, or not having enough money to live on;<\/li>\n<li>Not having supportive friends and family;<\/li>\n<li>Being ill or in pain; and<\/li>\n<li>Having a mental illness or low self-esteem.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Frazee says that \u201cbuffers\u201d can help prevent vulnerability such as:\n<ul>\n<li>Good social relationships;<\/li>\n<li>Being listened to and respected;<\/li>\n<li>Having a safe home and liveable income; and<\/li>\n<li>Having the services and supports needed to control one\u2019s life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>These buffers keep us from feeling our vulnerability constantly and give us resilience, in that they help us to \u201cbounce back\u201d from difficult times.<\/li>\n<li>When at least one of these buffers is weakened or absent, \u201cwe experience our vulnerability full-force,\u201d Frazee says. Therefore, people are\u00a0<em>made<\/em>\u00a0vulnerable. Contrary to the stereotype, vulnerability isn\u2019t a \u201cbuilt-in\u201d trait that certain groups of people have.<\/li>\n<li>The connection between vulnerability and disability comes from \u201csocial disadvantage \u2026 exclusion and discrimination.\u201d The disadvantage created by prejudice and lack of accessibility that disabled people face increases the situations that lead to vulnerability \u2013 for example, poverty, homelessness, isolation, abuse, or coercion.<\/li>\n<li>This constant exclusion and devaluation wears people down, making it harder to respond to \u201cshock, stress or trauma.\u201d If society doesn\u2019t value or support someone\u2019s life, the person is also less likely to value it, and they soon lose hope.<\/li>\n<li>Catherine Frazee notes that distress makes a person more susceptible to encouragement to end their lives. This comes in the form of positive motivations, such as \u201cbeing promised \u2026 that you will be honoured for your sacrifice, remembered for your courage,\u201d and valued.\u00a0 Negative motivations include being made to feel \u201cashamed, devalued, powerless, rejected, (or otherwise) stripped of dignity,\u201d or like a burden.\u00a0 As well, the \u201csuffering\u201d that assisted suicide advocates often attribute to their health conditions may actually be a \u201cstruggle\u201d to live a \u201csatisfying\u201d life in a society that devalues and excludes disabled people.<\/li>\n<li>Professor Frazee says we must \u201cTreat every serious request to die as an emergency,\u201d and \u201c[m]ake an urgent assessment of the requester&#8217;s vulnerability.\u201d\u00a0 For people who are deemed \u201cvulnerable\u201d society must put in place the services and supports needed to provide buffers and restore the person\u2019s resiliency in the face of disability and terminal illness.<\/li>\n<li>Professor Frazee concludes that access to assisted suicide \u201cmust be limited to: persons whose \u2026 material and social assets (i.e. privilege) \u2026completely shield them from all forms of human vulnerability, (and) persons with terminal conditions whose death is imminent.\u201d Even then, \u201c[a]ssisted suicide must only be made available after a detailed and individualized plan for high quality palliative care\u201d is implemented.<\/li>\n<li>Frazee served as an advisor to the Vulnerable Persons Standard (VPS) coalition, which produced a series of recommendations to Parliament for Canada\u2019s AS\/E legislation. The VPS is meant to protect people whose circumstances put them at increased risk of pressure to end their lives. The Standard was meant to ensure that all potential areas of vulnerability, and motivations for assisted suicide, were addressed before a request for death was granted.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vps-npv.ca\/read-the-standard-20\/\">According to the VPS coalition<\/a>, \u201cCanada&#8217;s MAiD law fully complies with three of the VPS requirements, partially complies with eight of the requirements and does not comply with five of the requirements.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Since assisted suicide and euthanasia have been legalized, the definition of a \u201cvulnerable\u201d person appears to be changing. Someone is now considered \u201cvulnerable\u201d if they can\u2019t access AS\/E easily and quickly, as shown in the Ontario Divisional Court case which we discussed on February 2<sup>nd<\/sup>. Specifically, the Court found that without the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario\u2019s mandatory referral policy, there would be \u201ca real risk of a deprivation of equitable access to health care, particularly on the part of the more vulnerable members of our society.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>It seems a lot of effort is being put into improving access to assisted suicide, which is labeled an exercise in personal freedom. At the same time, the lack of freedom and resources available to people with disabilities \u2013 the true cause of vulnerability \u2013 is being ignored.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>DISABILITY DAY OF MOURNING ON MARCH 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When a disabled person is killed by their relative or caregiver, society often looks the other way. The legal system gives lenient sentences to the killers, concluding that the homicide is somehow justified by the stress of caring for a disabled person. Media coverage, too, glosses over the fact that someone\u2019s life was violently cut short; they pay more attention to the plight of the nondisabled relative whose life is \u201climited\u201d by the person\u2019s disability.\u00a0 This is yet another way in which the lives of disabled people are devalued.<\/li>\n<li>Since 2012, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN), Not Dead Yet, and other disability rights organizations have commemorated disabled people killed by parents and caregivers through the Disability Day of Mourning. Remembrance events are held every March 1<sup>st<\/sup>.\u00a0 These gatherings are meant to:\n<ul>\n<li>draw public attention to the deaths;<\/li>\n<li>condemn the apathy of the legal system,<\/li>\n<li>counter the negative media portrayals of disabled victims;<\/li>\n<li>\u201cdemand justice and equal protection under the law for all people with disabilities;\u201d and<\/li>\n<li>send the message that \u201cdisability is not a justification for violence.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>According to ASAN, over 550 disabled people have been murdered by relatives or caregivers since the vigils began.<\/li>\n<li>A list of vigil sites (including in Canada) is available\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/autisticadvocacy.org\/2018\/02\/2018-day-of-mourning-vigil-sites\/\">on the Network\u2019s website<\/a>. We encourage anyone who is able to attend in person, and we hope that ASAN will hold a virtual vigil again this year via the Network\u2019s Facebook page, for those who do not have an event in their area.<\/li>\n<li>For more information on this issue, check out\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2017\/07\/misplaced-mercy-prosecution-and-sentencing-of-parents-who-kill-their-disabled-children\/\">a paper written by Amy Hasbrouck<\/a>\u00a0that specifically focuses on prosecution and sentencing of parents who kill their disabled children, or visit the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/disability-memorial.org\/\">Day of Mourning website<\/a>\u00a0at disability-memorial.org.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nThis week, we discuss what vulnerability is, and its connection to assisted suicide.\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/02\/webcast-archive-vulnerability-and-assisted-suicide\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: \u201cVulnerability\u201d and assisted suicide&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/02\/webcast-archive-vulnerability-and-assisted-suicide\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: \u201cVulnerability\u201d and assisted suicide&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[42,121,247,118],"class_list":["post-2562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-assisted-suicide-en","tag-euthanasia-disability","tag-vulnerability","tag-webcast","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2562"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3460,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2562\/revisions\/3460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}