By Paul Russell:
Yesterday my wife, Anne, attended the Disability Ageing and Lifestyle Expo at the Adelaide Show Grounds.
Anne's aim, as always, is to support our son, Joseph who has a disability. One thing we have learned over the years is that you really do have to ask the right questions of the right people if you want the right answers about support. This seemed a good opportunity.
And it was. Anne gathered some excellent information and resources for Joseph and, along the way, some additional information that might be useful for my own parents as Dad recovers from a significant illness.
Trouble is, the death pushers were there too. I don't know whether these people were acting off their own decision or whether they were part of the Denton network, but Anne was approached by someone with an electronic device who asked her if she wanted to sign up to support euthanasia through the 'BeTheBill' promotion jointly sponsored by Denton's network and the Australian Nurses and Midwifery Foundation.
And there were groups of young disabled people roaming through this place. Did no-one think about them? Did no-one think that many people in the disability community object strongly, as we do, to all this death peddling? Did they care, anyway? Sorry (first facepalm), I forgot, Mr Denton told us that there's no risk to the disabled, the aged or the vulnerable, and he would know what he's talking about. If you believe that, then give me a call - I've got a bridge you might want to buy!
Not that these people identified themselves easily as being pro-euthanasia. On the contrary, from a picture Anne took it looks like they were representing some volunteer network. Silly me! Of course! (Facepalm two) Euthanasia's supposed to be 'voluntary'!
I don't know if the agency organising the event knew that these people were involved in this activity on the day, but, as you might expect, Anne was deeply offended by their presence and moreso by their approach.
But I guess we really shouldn't have been all that surprised. After all, the event was called, 'My Life, My Choice', a familiar slogan of those who want people to be made dead. In Switzerland, the death-dealing agency, Exit, has permission to visit nursing homes spruiking for business so, hey, why not? I'm sure these people would deny it, but their presence at this expo had an eerily similar ring to it.
No doubt these death pushers would be deeply offended by my comments. Well bad luck folks 'cause we are deeply offended too!