By Diane Coleman, Not Dead Yet

Thanks, in part, to the great work of the disability rights community, writing, interviewing and protesting “Me Before You”, as of last weekend, the film was only being shown on 238 screens nationwide, down from over 2700 when it opened just six weeks ago.

But the film’s harmful message will continue for years in online media, so our work is not over. It’s too late for theaters, but the producers need to add a suicide prevention public service announcement to all further releases of this film in any form.

We have prepared a letter to Warner Brothers, calling for such a PSA (below). We are requesting that national, state and local disability organizations sign onto this letter by July 25. Please share this with organizations you know and urge them to sign on by emailing Diane Coleman ([email protected]) the following information:

• Organization name:
• Location City & State:
• Is Organization National, State or Local:
• Contact person & email:
• Number of members or people served (if available):

Kevin Tsujihara, CEO
Warner Brothers
4000 Warner Boulevard
Burbank, CA. 91522

Dear Mr. Tsujihara:

We, the undersigned national, state and local disability organizations are writing to express our urgent concerns about the negative impact of the plotline and treatment of the assisted suicide of a lead character with quadriplegia in the film “Me Before You”.  [Read more…]

National Disability Voter Registration Week (DVRW) takes place this year from July 11 to July 15th. As this is only a few short weeks away, organizing an event for the week may not be feasible. However, there are still many ways that you or your organization can get involved!

• Ask your City Council to sign a proclamation to recognize National Disability Voter Registration Week in your community. View the sample proclamation.
• Get involved with or attend a scheduled event for National Disability Voter Registration Week. View the American Association of People with Disabilities’ list of resources and events.
• Set up a voter registration table and have a registration drive at a well-trafficked location in your community, such as a supermarket. Some tips:
  • Instead of a table, bring an ironing board. Not only does this unusual choice attract attention, but an ironing board is easily adjustable for those who need height adjustments.
  • Bring a sign with your organization’s name and the words “Register to Vote.”
  • If your organization has T-Shirts, make sure that you wear them.
  • Don’t just stand or sit by your table. Approach them with a smile and ask them if they would like to register to vote.
• Take time to find out if your state has an online voter registration page. The biggest reason for lines on election day is problems with registration. Registering online eliminates issues with hand-printed registration forms such as illegible handwriting.
• View our resources and consider joining the NCIL Voting Rights Subcommittee. Visit our page.

Many families have a tradition of hunting. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration wants to keep people with disabilities who need help with their finances from participating in that tradition. Earlier this year, President Obama issued his Executive Action to address gun violence in the U.S. Part of this action required the Social Security Administration (SSA) to start rule-making. SSA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concerning “Implementation of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Act of 2007 (NIAA)” on May 5, 2016. This proposal requires SSA to identify people on SSDI who have a representative payee and report them to the Department of Justice for inclusion in the NICS.

• Review the NPRM and submit your comments online!

This proposal is fundamentally flawed, and it is highly discriminatory. We need members of the NCIL community to submit comments opposing this proposal. There is no evidence to support a connection between gun violence and having a representative payee to help manage one’s benefits due to the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) definition “mental impairment.”

This proposed rule would perpetuate the misguided message that people with certain disabilities are dangerous. It would violate the privacy and other rights of people receiving social security due to disability. More importantly, it would do nothing to actually address gun violence.

Please respond with your comments by July 5, 2016, the deadline. It is important that as many people and organizations comment on SSA’s misguided efforts as possible. Centers can address how this would affect your consumers and services. Others can tell your story or a personal story of someone you know who has a representative payee and how they are not dangerous. CCD, a disability coalition with which we work has provided sample comments to work from.

The bill is still bad for people with disabilities.

Representative Murphy, the bill’s author, called H.R. 2646 the “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2015.” Others know it as the “Murphy bill.” Last week the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee amended it and voted it out of committee unanimously. View the markup and the vote.

As we’ve discussed in previous alerts, the passage of this bill would have dire consequences for people with psychiatric disabilities. Misled by dangerous assumptions and false media portrayals of those with psychiatric disabilities, supporters of this bill believe they are advocating for improved access to services and protection from violence.

In reality, this bill would take away basic civil and human rights of people with disabilities. People with psychiatric diagnoses are much more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence. They are no more likely to be dangerous than their peers without psychiatric diagnoses. Regardless of these facts, proponents of this bill seem to believe that those with psychiatric diagnosis truly are different and less capable than their peers and should be treated as such.

Perhaps most importantly, this bill limits health privacy under the HIPAA rules. Section 401 of the Manager’s Amendment would establish a “Sense of Congress.” This section would write a controversial definition into law. There is substantial research showing that people diagnosed with mental illness are able to make reasonable decisions about their care as do people with other chronic health conditions. The bill ignores this evidence, limiting the rights of people with psychiatric disabilities to privacy and to control their own care.

Section 404 requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate new HIPAA privacy regulations. This creates the risk that more discrimination will be written into law consistently with the “Sense of Congress.”  [Read more…]

The Center for Disability Rights (a Center for Independent Living in Rochester, NY) has created a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to address disability and assisted suicide, one of the primary topics highlighted in the new romantic comedy, Me Before You. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Jojo Moyes, who also penned the screenplay. Me Before You tells the story of a cheerful underachiever, Louisa, who is hired as the Personal Care Attendant for a wealthy quadriplegic named Will Traynor. Louisa soon realizes her job is to convince Will to live, as he has an appointment at an assisted suicide facility in Switzerland in six months. Despite the two falling in love Will tells Louisa that love is not enough, and goes through with killing himself because of his disability.

The murder and killing of disabled people in Hollywood films is a common theme. Assisted suicide, in particular, can be seen in a number of films beyond Me Before You including Million Dollar Baby, The Sea Inside, and Whose Life is it Anyway? Assisted suicide is often presented as a logical ending to disabled lives. In these films, disabled people are seen as a burden, and are presented as suffering, so assisted suicide is seen as a reasonable and rational outcome. [Read more and watch the PSA at cdrnys.org…]