Well I had to speak up about this. Not to mention that Amy Goodman referred to wheelchair users as "confined to a wheelchair" promoting stereotypical fears about disablement. To her credit, she later said she shouldn't have used the term. Why is it that these people are so uneducated and backwards on our issues? Marta Russell
Letter to Pacifica Stations
Amy Goodman on Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now announced the Kevorkian verdict, briefly discussed him and had a discussion about assisted suicide. She had two doctors on the program, Timothy Quill and Ira Byack (sp?).
Why does a "Progressive" show like Democracy Now rely on two medical professionals views rather than speaking with those of us who are disabled? Would you not have included a black or a woman when you bring up civil rights or abortion?
By failing to include Not Dead Yet or a person with a disability, Democracy Now has patronized the disability activists. You choose to give the authority to speak on assisted suicide to doctors instead of speaking with us. You have chosen to make the doctor the "authority" making the "patient" seem unable to formulate for ourselves. It is pure stereotypical medical model packaging and Pacifica should know better.
If you want to involve disabled people in decisions about disability policy you can contact Diane Coleman founder of Not Dead Yet at NDYCOLEMAN at aol.com -- Marta Russell author Beyond Ramps: Disability at the End of the Social Contract http://www.commoncouragepress.com/ramps.html Los Angeles, CA