Disabled Individuals Deserve to have Their rights Protected

Janice Sanford

"The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens." --Thomas Jefferson: Note in Destutt de Tracy, "Political Economy," 1816. ME 14:465

"Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual." --Thomas Jefferson to Isaac H. Tiffany, 1819.


The United States of America in her first century underwent many conflicts. There were wars, catastrophes, assassinations, plagues of disease, and injustices. But our nation endured, because of the moral fabric that were woven together with the durable threads of moral truths. Then, as now, societal ills, like slavery, infanticide, and killing the disabled, were recognized for what they were: crimes of injustice.

To the first Americans, it was self-evident that the "Creator" had endowed "men" (mankind) with "Certain inalienable" (absolute) rights:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."- The Declaration of Independence (July 4,1776)

When opponents of slavery criticized the owning of slaves, slave owners argued that thousands of factory workers were no better off than slaves.But to many Americans, the existence of bad conditions in factories did not justify slavery.

When those in the antislavery movement criticized slavery on grounds that it was morally wrong for one human being to own another human being. That it was wrong to rob an individual of his rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and of his right to think and act for himself.........slave owners put forth arguments based on the doctrine of "inequality among men."

Today, when those opposed to starving Terri Schiavo to death criticize the killing of the disabled, who have no written directive, those in the pro-death movement argue that the right of a state judge to sentence a disabled person to death supersedes any rights a disabled person might have. They also claim that the lives of people who have been diagnosed as PVS are not of value to the severely disabled person himself or to society as a whole.

Our Democracy rests on the belief in the fundamental dignity and importance of the individual, in the essential equality of human beings, and in the individual's need to be free. The emphasis on the supreme worth of the individual has run unbroken through democratic thought for over 200 yrs. The doctrine of equality among men demands that as Americans we speak out against the injustice being bestowed on Terri Schindler Schiavo because of her disability.

What has Terri Schiavo done to deserve her very 'personhood' being stripped from her?

Some have excused the action of the state judges in the Schiavo case on grounds that if every person suffering from a severe disability were allowed to live out their lives naturally, that nursing homes and hospitals would be packed, and the disabled class of Americans would be nothing more then a burden on an already strained economy system......

Others argue that starving Terri Schiavo to death is more humane than allowing her to go home with her Mom and dad because they have stated publicly that they would do anything to save their daughter's life.....

To those in Michael Schiavo's corner, the quality of ones life, whether one is disabled or not, dictates the value of a person's life to society...

To Americans, such as myself, Terri Schiavo's right to life, liberty, and justice should be treated as being as important as those of any other individual-because no human being should be treated as a slave or tool by others.