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The United States, Germany, and Eugenics

Name: Catherine S. Perel
Email: perel@feist.com
Date: 24 Dec 1999
Time: 09:54:44
Remote Name: fsict-tc1-17.fn.net

Story

We criticize Germany for killing the disabled. For those of us who are Jews, we know that if we were then as we are now, we could never be a Schindler Jew. From where did the Nazi T4 project originate and why did it stop at only 100,000 before they turned to the Jews? The questions and answers are enlightening.

Who supplied the information the Nazis' used to kill 100,000 disabled persons? We did. The eugenics program was propagated here long before it was in Germany. With some disabilities, it continues. Professors and physicians lectured in Germany about the importance of removing "defectives" from the population. Some, such as Singer -- a founder of the women's sufferage league, included the poor. Alexander Graham Bell, whose mother and wife were both deaf, also supported eugenics. (Isn't that interesting!)

Why did Project T4 end at only 100,000? In the United States, euthanasia and sterilization effected far more people than 100,000. It stopped because the German people found out about T4 and demanded its cessation. In the United States, we still do it, but we use other phrases, "quality of life" and "drain on public resources" being the most popular.

Further, unless there are non-disabled people on our side who are willing to speak out, it won't end. It will only get worse. Intelligence is not a factor. Creativity is not a factor. The only factor is the possession of a disability.

We, the disabled community, are not so very different. (And unless you taste the fiery furnace, you never really know.) A man in Georgia some years ago petitioned to have a switch attached to his respirator so he could commit suicide. The courts ruled in his favor and a switch was attached to the respirator. Three sharp blasts would turn off the machine. He decided that, for him, living the way he was not worth the effort. It was a choice he made and that millions of others, both disabled and
non-disabled, make or ponder everyday.

The disabled community called foul. He was young. He didn't know his options. His family had placed him in a hospital/institutional environment because they were no longer able to care for him. He knew what difference existed and what he wanted. It was too much for him. His family could only visit him a few days a year because of their declining health as well as the driving. Well, that's not quite the whole truth. As long as the battle over the instillation of the switch was active, he received many visitors and cards. Once it was clear that the courts would permit such
installation, everyone left. He vomited suicide a few weeks later.

He had wanted the same "right." I suppose he meant one of the 57 (or so) utilitarian modes of thinking here. If a person without a disability could commit suicide, why should he be any different merely because he was a complete C2 quadriplegic? In a way, he fought for personal autonomy and
equal rights. In most states, committing suicide is not a criminal offense.

In this instance, we, the disabled community, failed him. How? What we did was abandon him. We didn't recognize his right to make his own choices, his own decisions, his own judgment regarding the quality of his day. And now we condemn the non-disabled of doing precisely the same thing.

Is it no wonder we must fight for the right not to be killed? Is it no wonder we fear the "system?" Perhaps we should fear ourselves as well.

Copyright © 1999 Catherine S. Perel. All rights reserved.

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Re: I'm also afraid of being disposable

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Date: 16 Feb 2008
Time: 01:11:58
Remote Name: 198.54.202.82

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