PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES ARE ENTITLED TO DIGNITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: A STATEMENT IN OPPOSITION TO HONORING DR. JACK KEVORKIAN

WHEREAS:

• All human beings are entitled to dignity and social justice.
• People with disabilities are human beings.
• People with disabilities are entitled to dignity and social justice.

AND WHEREAS:

• The Gleitsman Foundation has presented Dr. Jack Kevorkian with a Citizen Activist Award for challenging "social injustice."
• Dr. Kevorkian has actively participated in the deaths of persons with disabilities, both with and without terminal illnesses.
• Dr. Kevorkian's actions toward people with disabilities deny them dignity and social justice.

THEREFORE:

We, the undersigned, call upon the Gleitsman Foundation and all persons associated with the Citizen Activist Award to support the right of people with disabilities to dignity and social justice and to publicly condemn Dr. Kevorkian's actions.

ADAPT

Adrienne Asch, Ph.D.
Henry R. Luce Professor, Biology, Ethics, and the Politics of Human Reproduction
Wellesley College

Rev. Daniel Berrigan
Also on behalf of the 18 members of the West Side Jesuit Community

Jerome and Carol Berrigan

Rev. Philip Berrigan

Douglas P. Biklen, Ph.D., Professor
Syracuse University

Quinn Brisben
Andrea Brisben

Ramsey Clark, Esq.

Eli Clare, Author
Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation

Diane Coleman, Founder/President
Stephen Drake, Research Analyst
Not Dead Yet

Richard Cusack
Also on behalf of Nancy Cusack, Joan Cusack, and John Cusack

Justin Dart
Justice for All

John Dear, S. J.
Fellowship of Reconciliation

Barbara Waxman Fiduccia, Consultant
Disabled Women's Health Policy and Programs

Thomas Gilhool, Esq.
Judith Gran, Esq.
Barbara E. Ransom, Esq.
Max P. Lapertosa, Esq.
Lionel A. Dyson, Esq.
Marinda van Dalen, Esq.
Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia

Lucy Gwin
Editor, Mouth Magazine
Freedom Clearinghouse

Nat Hentoff

Stanley S. Herr, Esq., Professor
University of Maryland School of Law

John Hockenberry, Author
Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence

Mary Johnson, Editor
Ragged Edge: The Disability Experience in America

Deborah Kaplan, Executive Director
World Institute on Disability

Janine Bertram Kemp
Tom Olin
Disability Rights Center

Paul Longmore, Ph.D.
Professor of History
San Francisco State University

Robert Ludwig
Director, University Ministry
DePaul University

Janet Schenk McCord, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Peter Gathje, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Christian Brothers University

Diane L. Murphy, Ph.D.
Director, Women's Studies, Syracuse University

Tom Nerney
Self-Determination for Persons with Disabilities

Robert Perske, Author
Circle of Friends, Unequal Justice, and Deadly Innocence

Sr. Helen Prejean, Author
Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States

Eric Rosenthal, Esq.
Mental Disability Rights International

Marta Russell, Author
Beyond Ramps: Disability at the End of the Social Contract

Kathleen Rumpf
Jail Ministry

Martin Sheen

Wesley J. Smith, Author
Final Exit: The Slippery Slope from Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder

Paul W. Spooner, President
National Council on Independent Living

TASH—Disability Advocacy Worldwide

Steven J. Taylor, Ph.D.
Professor and Director
Elizabeth Wallbridge
Chair, Advocacy Board
Center on Human Policy, Syracuse University

World Association of Persons with Disabilities (WAPD)

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

• Letter of Protest to Alan Gleitsman on the Award to Jack Kevorkian

• "DEATH WITH DIGNITY" FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT DYING?: THE GLEITSMAN FOUNDATION IS WRONG THAT KEVORKIAN STANDS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

• Not Dead Yet - Not Dead Yet is a national activist organization which opposes the legalization of physician-assisted suicide and places emphasis on the value of life.