I feel like there's this odd tension in the disability community - at least here in the States - between independence/autonomy and a sense that people with disabilities are vulnerable to being taken advantage of by a system that allows euthanasia and might be seeking a way "out" because they aren't getting enough community support. Most people seem to support the latter (or at least the vocal ones do), which sometimes make me feel unwelcome in my opinions. Personally, I was raised with a family that believed in a person's right to choose to end their life with a doctor's help - my mother had cancer for ten years and was very passionate about the issue - and so I am in favor of an individual's right to choose what is correct for them; in the end, only that person can know best what is the right course of action. If we respect ourselves as independent, autonomous people (even if we rely on or are helped by another person for basic needs), then I think we have to respect our autonomy too, even if we are choosing things that other people find painful.
When they passed the law in Washington State to allow euthanasia, many people protested that it would allow families to coerce disabled family members to die; on the contrary, it often seems that families try to hold people back from that, and sometimes a person who is seeking euthanasia has to fight their family's wish for them to live. I can certainly see the argument that people aren't getting enough support and that that might make someone make this choice, but... let's be honest, not every issue is fixable with adaptive technology, round-the-clock care, and universal design. It sounds like the brothers were fiercely independent and so, for them, the idea of being dependent on a caregiver for their needs did such violence to their self-perception that it was the right choice for them. And, in the end, they are the best arbiter of their needs; it's not my place or my right to judge what was correct for them.
When they passed the law in Washington State to allow euthanasia, many people protested that it would allow families to coerce disabled family members to die; on the contrary, it often seems that families try to hold people back from that, and sometimes a person who is seeking euthanasia has to fight their family's wish for them to live. I can certainly see the argument that people aren't getting enough support and that that might make someone make this choice, but... let's be honest, not every issue is fixable with adaptive technology, round-the-clock care, and universal design. It sounds like the brothers were fiercely independent and so, for them, the idea of being dependent on a caregiver for their needs did such violence to their self-perception that it was the right choice for them. And, in the end, they are the best arbiter of their needs; it's not my place or my right to judge what was correct for them.
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