They didn't teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities in medical school
Tonight was the International Disability Day of Mourning.
This day commemorates the lives of people with disabilities who were killed by their caregivers. The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network lists over 180 people in the last 5 years alone and this list is likely incomplete. When people with disabilities are killed, the media often describes the murder as a "mercy" killing and talk about "suffering" or talk about how hard the murdered person was for the murderer to live with. Often, other caregivers are interviewed who describe the murder as "understandable." The person who was killed is often erased from the story.
In the past I participated in virtual vigils. Tonight I attended an in-person vigil. Last year there were approximately 6 people at the local vigil. Tonight we had over 20. I spoke, not specifically about the murder of people with disabilities by their caregivers, but about a related issue, the way medicine devalues the lives of people with disabilities.
This is what I said.
In medical school
They didn't teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
They just lectured us about how people with disabilities "can't function."
And that condition was "absolutely devastating.
(A condition I have, by the way)
And that after people develop disabilities, "life's not worth living anymore."
In medical school
They didn' teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
They just rounded on the hospital floors and shook their heads and clicked their tongues, and said "he has no quality of life"
And "she should be DNR"
And "his poor mother"
And we should "ind the circuit breaker" for this room full of babies who breathe with ventilators
And "he best thing for him would be for him to earn his angel wings."
In medical school
They didn' teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
They just told the pregnant person to get the blood test so that "f the baby has Down syndrome, you can terminate the pregnancy"
(Where's the choice in that?)
In medical school
They didn't teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
They just presented journal articles in Grand Rounds that combined "severe disability and death" under the category of "poor outcome." Peer reviewed, published journal articles.
Which defined severe disability as an IQ below 70
Or blindness
Or hearing impairment
Or seizures
Or cerebral palsy
There's a lot of living people in those categories combined with the dead ones
And no one in medical school seemed to notice
In medical school
They didn't teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
And they would be shocked if someone said they had
They just implied in 100 little ways we might be better off dead
And that others might be better off if we were dead
In medical school
They didn't teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
They just emphasized the difference between us and them
That is us and we
I mean, us and me
In medical school
They didn't teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
Out loud
They didn't have to.
This day commemorates the lives of people with disabilities who were killed by their caregivers. The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network lists over 180 people in the last 5 years alone and this list is likely incomplete. When people with disabilities are killed, the media often describes the murder as a "mercy" killing and talk about "suffering" or talk about how hard the murdered person was for the murderer to live with. Often, other caregivers are interviewed who describe the murder as "understandable." The person who was killed is often erased from the story.
In the past I participated in virtual vigils. Tonight I attended an in-person vigil. Last year there were approximately 6 people at the local vigil. Tonight we had over 20. I spoke, not specifically about the murder of people with disabilities by their caregivers, but about a related issue, the way medicine devalues the lives of people with disabilities.
This is what I said.
In medical school
They didn't teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
They just lectured us about how people with disabilities "can't function."
And that condition was "absolutely devastating.
(A condition I have, by the way)
And that after people develop disabilities, "life's not worth living anymore."
In medical school
They didn' teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
They just rounded on the hospital floors and shook their heads and clicked their tongues, and said "he has no quality of life"
And "she should be DNR"
And "his poor mother"
And we should "ind the circuit breaker" for this room full of babies who breathe with ventilators
And "he best thing for him would be for him to earn his angel wings."
In medical school
They didn' teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
They just told the pregnant person to get the blood test so that "f the baby has Down syndrome, you can terminate the pregnancy"
(Where's the choice in that?)
In medical school
They didn't teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
They just presented journal articles in Grand Rounds that combined "severe disability and death" under the category of "poor outcome." Peer reviewed, published journal articles.
Which defined severe disability as an IQ below 70
Or blindness
Or hearing impairment
Or seizures
Or cerebral palsy
There's a lot of living people in those categories combined with the dead ones
And no one in medical school seemed to notice
In medical school
They didn't teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
And they would be shocked if someone said they had
They just implied in 100 little ways we might be better off dead
And that others might be better off if we were dead
In medical school
They didn't teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
They just emphasized the difference between us and them
That is us and we
I mean, us and me
In medical school
They didn't teach us it was OK to kill people with disabilities
Out loud
They didn't have to.