Disabled People’s Demands: What Not Dead Yet want to see from our incoming government

With the General Election a week away, many disabled people have felt underwhelmed by the promises in parties’ manifestos. After years of punishing benefit cuts, an underfunded NHS, a very challenging environment for recruiting personal assistants, and an increase in disability hate crimes, we’re in serious need of policies that will improve our lives.   

The Disabled People’s Manifesto has been put together by Deaf and disabled people’s organisations in England, who are also holding a National Disability Hustings on 2^nd July in Manchester and online.

In terms of the threat of assisted suicide, as Not Dead Yet, we have two core concerns that inform our work:

1. That the new government will bring in a law legalising assisted suicide
2. That the new government will fail to improve disabled people’s lives, leaving us at higher risk of feeling suicidal

Disabled People Against Cuts looked at the main parties’ election manifestos to see where they stood on some key issues of interest to disabled people, including assisted suicide. Here’s what they found:

• The Green Party “will support assisted dying”
• The Labour Party “will have a free vote on assisted dying”
• The Liberal Democrats would “give Parliament time to debate and a free vote on assisted dying”
• Plaid Cymru does not mention assisted suicide
• Reform does not mention assisted suicide
• The SNP do not mention assisted suicide

Our research shows that the Conservative Party manifesto says – ironically, underneath a panel on improving mental health – that they “will maintain the position that assisted dying is a matter of conscience and will respect the will of Parliament. Debates on assisted dying should never distract from the importance of delivering high-quality palliative care services, and we will continue to support children’s and adults’ hospices.”

Not one of the main parties has a policy on assisted suicide that reflects disabled people’s concerns about the lack of safeguards and the inherent disablism that cannot be untangled from the desire to legalise assisted death.

So here’s what we want parties to commit to, if they want to both safeguard and respect the dignity of disabled people in the UK:

1. Resist making any changes to the current law on assisted suicide. 
2. Set aside significant financial resources to invest in:
3. Accessible lifetime homes to suit the needs of all generations and all disabled people. 
4. Palliative care services, so they can expand their excellent work to enable more people to have dignified and tailored care at the end of their life
5. Guarantee sufficient, high-quality social care support to enable disabled people to live independently in the places we love, with the people we love
6. Comply with the European Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, especially a right to independent living, rather than forced institutionalisation.
7. Draft a comprehensive disability strategy – with extensive consultation with disabled people’s organisations – to ensure the improvement of every aspect of disabled people’s lives.
8. Ensure that if a disabled, older or unwell person is suicidal, they receive appropriate and accessible mental health care.

With these promises from our future government, disabled, sick, and older people in the UK can avoid becoming desperate, destitute and feeling like we are living undignified lives, excluded from society.

If we feel in control of the way we live, we can afford to live, and we are treated well, towards the end of our lives, we will be far less likely to feel pushed towards seeing suicide as a logical answer rather than a devastating outcome for a person failed by society.

We are asking politicians to help us to live, not to die.