Not Dead Yet and the NYLS End-of-Life Symposium

Not
Dead Yet reports that last Friday, three
disability activists in New York City went to the Justice Action Center at the
NY Law School to distribute flyers protesting the way in which a symposium on “Freedom of Choice at the End of Life” handled
“issues of concern” that people with disabilities have with proponents of
assisted suicide (and other “end of life” issues).

As I
wrote privately to one of the activists, Nadina Laspina, I was pleased
that these activists were able to come up to the conference area deep inside
New York Law School.  Their presence, their conversations, and the NDY
blogging about the symposium definitely heightened awareness of the disability
perspective on end-of-life medical treatment issues. 

I first met Nadina, in April 2010, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, when I was arguing before the Appellate Division in the Betancourt case.  The strong NDY presence in the courtroom that morning surely sent as strong a message to the three-judge panel as any brief or attorney advocacy.

While I value the voice of NDY, I am not sure that its criticism of the NYLS is completely accurate and fair.  First,
Alicia Ouellette made an informed, fair, and even passionate argument for more
inclusiveness and circumspection.  Here is an excerpt from a review of her book, Bioethics and Disability -

Ouellette contends that people with disabilities have been medicalized and marginalized by bioethics practice. Although perhaps overstating the connection between bioethics and clinical medicine, she provides powerful descriptions of how some bioethics commentary and consultation have been infected by misinformation and disability bias. She explains the importance to bioethics of listening to the voices of people with disabilities, unearthing prejudice, and pursuing inclusive justice. To put the call of the book in Ouellette's own words: “A disability-conscious bioethics will incorporate important but overlooked knowledge, evince sensitivity to the values, concerns, and interests of members of the disability community, acknowledge the biases and alliances that affect various parties' perspectives, and focus on principles of importance to disability work that are sometimes overlooked in bioethics -- nondiscrimination, full and effective participation and inclusion of people with disabilities, respect for difference, and accessibility.”

It is worth noting that not only Alicia but also her institution, Albany Law School, does quite a lot for disability rights.  For the last 29 years law students enrolled in the disability rights clinic at Albany Law School have represented individuals with disabilities on an array of legal issues.

Finally, the potentially questionable
session title “special people” is readily explained by the fact that the panel
discussed not only the disabled but also another vulnerable populations,
prisoners.