FAQs

Why we defend Life with Dignity

We are a UK-based network who are part of a global alliance of disabled people, who oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide. But what are the reasons behind our position?

Liz Carr asks: Are disabled people Better Off Dead?

BBC One recently aired a documentary about assisted suicide made by actor and comedian Liz Carr. In it, she made the case for why opposing assisted suicide is essential if disabled people's rights are to be safeguarded.

Disabled people’s perspectives are vital

As Liz has said in various interviews, the documentary is from the perspective of disabled people. This is important because it's different in many ways to the more commonly heard objections. Opponents to AS are often portrayed to object to it for religious reasons. However, disabled people do not want assisted suicide to become law for sometimes quite different reasons. Many people who are in favour of assisted suicide argue that it is only for people with a terminal diagnosis, but it is pretty much impossible to distinguish between many terminal
illnesses and many progressive conditions. Plus, as we have seen around the world, what starts off as something for people with a certain amount of time to live (which is impossible to predict accurately in any case), the laws can expand quickly to include all kinds of disabled people.

As disabled people, we are all too familiar with being ignored and not being listened to, so we know that the opposition to assisted suicide is painted as being exclusively a religious concern. But, as Not Dead Yet UK, we are not a pro-life group. We are a disability rights group. And we know that we would be under threat of coercion, further dehumanisation, and pressure to die. Columnist Matthew Parris admitted that people who are a 'burden' should be pressurised to die.

Fighting for our lives is exhausting

Because we are ignored on this issue, and because we know it could - and would - affect us
personally, it grinds us down. It is exhausting to be fighting for the world to recognise our basic humanity.
Society may not value disabled lives, but we know we have value, and we are fighting to keep a law off the books that would dehumanise us further. A law that would have woolly boundaries, could be quickly expanded, and could convince us that when we feel suicidal, we don't deserve to be helped.

- Philippa Willits

NDYUK Protests & Actions

See images of our dedicated members opposing Assisted Suicide in front of the Houses of Parliament over the years.