Archive for March 19th, 2005
Saturday, March 19th, 2005Clarissa Rides a Horse
Clarissa is one of many disabled adults and children who participate in horseback riding at Triple Creek Ranch Inc. in Redding, California. Here she rides Mama.
For more information about the riding program, read: The Magic of Horses published at The Piker Press
Life or Death
Yesterday a judge’s order played out in the case of Terri Shindler Schiavo. Staff at the nursing home where she lives removed her fooding tube. She will starve to death unless her family’s efforts to reverse the decision are successful. The story is disturbing (her husband has been pressing to allow Terri to die ever since she suffered brain damage many years ago). Terri did not have a written living will. She is not in a coma, but she is disabled and unable to advocate for herself.
I work with disabled aduts and children in my job as a physical therapist. Many need feeding tubes because of difficulties with swallowing. My clients interact with their caregivers families, they make friends, some hold down jobs, they go to the mall, they smile, they cry, they live like any one of us do. Would anyone ever suggest that we remove their feeding tubes and let them starve? The thought of that sickens me. How is Terri Shiavo any different?
Disabled individuals face tremendous bias and discrimination in our society. When someone can’t walk or talk or swallow normally, they depend on the grace of society.
The removal of a person’s feeding tube when they are awake, alert, and interactive is a slippery slope that we must not go down. Who decides on someone’s quality of life? Who decides who deserves medical treatment and who doesn’t?