Are People with Disabilities "Better Off Dead"? - NO - Picket Peter Singer - Chicago Oct. 24th

from our colleagues at Access Living (CIL)in Chicago.
(update on the Action below)

ACTION ALERT Peter Singer: The Worst You Can Do On Saturday, October 24, the bioethicist Dr. Peter Singer will be delivering a lecture at Northwestern University in Evanston. The lecture is titled “The Most Good You Can Do.” Ironically Dr. Singer is well known for his views that people with severe disabilities do not lead lives worth living and it is better (and less expensive) just to let them die. Please check out this link for his latest statements asserting that health care should be denied to people with severe disabilities. Most notably, he has stated that society should acknowledge the necessity of “intentionally ending the lives of severely disabled infants.” We at Access Living invite disability advocates and allies to join us in picketing Dr. Singer’s lecture, to let those in attendance know that his so-called “philosophy” is an attack on the lives of people with disabilities. The lecture series is a part of the Chicago Humanities Festival. We join our friends at the national disability organization Not Dead Yet in holding that because society stigmatizes the lives of people with disabilities, it is far too easy to kill us or let us die with the assumption that we are a “burden” or “better off.” Assisted suicide practices, futility policies, “mercy killings,” and surrogate decisions are all expressions of society’s bias against people with disabilities. If you want to join us to picket the lecture, please meet on Saturday at 2 pm at the west side of the Norris University Center at 1999 Campus Drive at Northwestern University, Evanston. We will picket until 4 pm. The actual lecture is from 2:30 to 3:30 pm and is sold out. Please RSVP to Amber Smock, Director of Advocacy at Access Living, if you plan to attend this picket by emailing asmock@accessliving.org. To learn more about Dr. Singer and his views on people with disabilities, please see this link as well as the National Council on Disability’s April 2015 response to Dr. Singer’s advocacy of the killing of disabled babies at this link. Thank you to our friends at Not Dead Yet for their resistance against society’s assumption that we are “better off dead.” ### UPDATE ON DAY OF 'PICKET': as shared by Access Living 10/26/2015 We are pleased to report that last Saturday’s action at Northwestern University picketing the Peter Singer lecture was a success. As you may recall, Access Living called for the picket because Dr. Singer is well known for his views promoting the euthanasia of people with disabilities, especially infants, because they are a “drain” on the health care system. Further, Dr. Singer has portrayed people with disabilities as less than human and not worth keeping alive.   About 350 people attended Dr. Singer’s lecture, which was focused on an aspect of charitable giving that focuses on contributing a percentage of your income to philanthropy. About twenty disability advocates from Access Living, Progress Center, Chicago ADAPT, UIC and others picketed with signs and passed out more than 300 flyers to people entering and leaving the building.   Many lecture goers stopped to talk with us about our issue, and a few even turned around and left the lecture. A couple decided to picket with us instead. Most had no idea that Dr. Singer’s views on people with disabilities included euthanasia. Northwestern’s student paper carried an article (CLICK HERE). A big THANK YOU to everyone who supported this action!