We need your help to stop disabled people being coerced into assisted suicide in the UK

Can you imagine dying by suicide, just because you weren’t receiving the support and services you needed to make life work well for you? Can you imagine the implict pressure of a government-sanctioned suicide - to protect the public purse?

“I’d rather die than be disabled like you” is a shocking thing to hear from a stranger, but most visibly disabled people have heard this. And it’s this attitude – that living as a disabled person would be intolerable – that contributes to an idea that legalising assisted suicide is a generous and caring thing to do.

The next reading of the assisted suicide bill is just weeks away. If we don’t act now, we risk irreversible harm. We need your help if we’re to continue to oppose it. 

As disabled people, we know that it is not being disabled that makes life hard so much as the world being cruel or inaccessible. Other people’s negative attitudes of us are the biggest problem.

Going into 2025, disabled people in the UK are struggling. We make up two-thirds of food bank users, we can’t get the social care or healthcare we need, and we experience sexual assault at twice the rate non-disabled people do. One third of disabled people live in poverty.

It is dangerous to introduce an assisted suicide law at a time when disabled, terminally ill and chronically ill people can’t get the financial help we need, the housing we need, the care we need, or the dignity and respect we need. It’s dangerous to introduce it when over 100,000 people per year die without the palliative care they need. It is dangerous to introduce assisted suicide when disabled people are twice as likely to experience domestic abuse, including coercive control, given that coercion to die is a significant concern with laws like this.

In Belgium, even children are being euthanised. In Canada, people are being euthanised because they don’t have access to the support they require.

We believe in a country where the state protects the rights of the most vulnerable, not one that kills them.

We need to stop this - before it’s too late.

Who are we?

Not Dead Yet UK is a group of seasoned campaigners for disability rights who know that legalising assisted suicide would put disabled people at risk.

What we need

As Not Dead Yet UK, we are perfectly positioned to represent disabled people’s concerns about assisted suicide – in fact that’s what we are already doing, and it’s what we’ve always done.

The next reading of Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill is in a matter of months, and we urgently need funds to do everything we can to resist the passing of this bill.

But we can’t do it with the resources we currently have.

We need to fund our campaign so that we can throw everything behind preventing this bill passing. The more donations, the more we can do. Time is running out before the third reading at the end of April.

What you can do

If you can help us to defend disabled people’s right to live, and campaign for assistance to live, not to die, now is the time to do so.

It has never been more urgent. Leadbeater’s law isn't progress; it's a dangerous step backwards for disabled rights.

Your donation will help defend disabled lives

You will be key to stopping this dangerous legislation. Don’t let disabled lives be further devalued.. Help us build a more inclusive and just society for everyone.

Don't let disabled lives be devalued. Donate today and help us build a more inclusive and just society.

Every penny helps, and we welcome whatever you can give. Pro-assisted suicide campaigners are very well funded, whereas we are working incredibly hard with very little. 

Why we campaign

We see around the world that assisted suicide has had devastating consequences for disabled people. 

·        In Oregon, which is often cited as an example of good practice, there is no monitoring or control once the prescription for lethal drugs is written. In this state, 48% of people who seek assisted suicide cite feeling like a burden as a reason for wanting to die

·        In Belgium, people with mental health problems can die by assisted suicide and in Belgium and the Netherlands, children can die this way

We also know that disabled people can be pressurised to choose an assisted death. This pressure stems from:

·        Perceptions of Being a Burden: Disabled people feel pressured to end their lives to avoid being perceived as a burden on family, friends, or the healthcare system

·        Lack of Adequate Support: Inadequate social and healthcare support will lead disabled people to view assisted dying as the only viable option. This is especially worrying in the context of cuts to social care budgets

·        Discriminatory Attitudes: The potential for discriminatory attitudes within the medical profession and society at large to influence decisions around assisted dying is a significant worry

·        Impact on Perceptions of Disabled People: The legalisation of assisted suicide would reinforce negative stereotypes about disability, emboldening those who argue that a life with a disability is not worth living. Ludwig Minelli, founder of the Swiss right-to-die organisation Dignitas, has advocated for extending the right to die to anyone deemed mentally capable, indicative of a broader societal devaluation of disabled lives

As disabled people, we are concerned about the wider societal impact of assisted suicide laws in the UK

·        Impact on Palliative Care and Support Services: In the UK, over 320 patients each day fail to get the specialist palliative care they need. There's a serious concern that the option of assisted dying will be presented as a solution to suffering without adequate investment in palliative care. There are concerns that legalising assisted dying will further exacerbate this problem, leaving vulnerable individuals feeling pressured to choose an assisted death due to a lack of viable alternatives

·        Disproportionate Impact on Marginalised Groups: Assisted dying laws will disproportionately impact marginalised groups including disabled people, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and people from minority ethnic groups. These groups already face significant barriers to healthcare and discrimination within the existing system. These pre-existing inequalities risk being exacerbated by assisted dying legalisation

·        Erosion of Trust in Healthcare Professionals: Introducing assisted dying will damage the trust between the public and healthcare professionals. Disabled lives already being devalued, coupled with the pressure on healthcare systems and potential biases within the medical profession, raise anxieties about the possibility of coercion and subtle forms of pressure to choose an assisted death. There are cases in several jurisdictions of people being offered assisted suicide by medical professionals despite not requesting it

·        Undermining suicide prevention: Legalising assisted suicide is associated with increased rates of unassisted suicides, especially in women and older people. Disabled people fear that if they seek help for suicidal feelings, they would be directed to legalised assisted suicide rather than the support they need

Disabled people's anxieties regarding assisted dying are deeply rooted in a historical context of discrimination, ongoing struggles for equality, and concerns about societal attitudes towards disability and death. Our lived experience, academic research, and accounts from other jurisdictions mean that we have no doubt that the introduction of assisted dying laws in the UK would be damaging and dangerous to disabled people.

If you care about autonomy, independence, and real choice - the choice to build and have a life that feels meaningful on our own terms - support us, if you can, today.