Today marks the 33rd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On this day, July 26th, 1990, the ADA was signed and enshrined civil rights protections into law for people with disabilities. Today and every ADA anniversary, the Patients’ Rights Action Fund (PRAF) celebrates the ADA’s affirmation that disability rights are civil rights – and they are worth fighting for.
That is why on April 23rd, 2023, the Institute for Patients’ Rights (a sister organization to PRAF) along with the United Spinal Association, Not Dead Yet, Communities Actively Living Independent and Free, and individuals Lonnie VanHook and Ingrid Tischer filed a lawsuit in California Federal District Court (United Spinal vs California) that asserts that the state of California’s End Of Life Options Act (EOLOA) is unconstitutional and discriminatory, and in violation of the ADA, Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act and the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Legislators who pass laws that legitimize assisted suicide as valid health care “treatment” needlessly expose people with disabilities and the elderly – and particularly people of color – to immense pressure to choose assisted suicide. In states where assisted suicide is legal, people without disabilities who express a desire to die receive suicide prevention services. In those same states, people with disabilities who express a desire to die are given assistance in doing so.
On this ADA anniversary, we at the Patients’ Rights Action Fund reaffirm our resolute belief that the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act, and the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of 14th Amendment of the Constitution guarantee everyone, whether disabled, non-disabled or yet-to-be-disabled, the human and civil right to equal access to health care without discrimination.
For more information, please visit our website here and our litigation website here.
Matt Vallière in the Los Angeles Times Thanks to the LA Times for sharing Matt’s letter, which strongly opposes assisted suicide laws. Read his letter to the editor below: Steve Lopez asks, “Will the option [of assisted suicide] be there for others?” To plaintiffs in the referenced lawsuit and many in the disability, older adult
Celebrating 33 Years of the ADA Today marks the 33rd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On this day, July 26th, 1990, the ADA was signed and enshrined civil rights protections into law for people with disabilities. Today and every ADA anniversary, the Patients’ Rights Action Fund (PRAF) celebrates the
Advocates for Assisted Suicide Begin to Fear the Case in California Proponents of assisted suicide are beginning to write articles and speak up about their worries and opposition to the case filed in California to end assisted suicide. While the initial response to this groundbreaking case was severely delayed, opinion pieces and statements of opposition
