Hey does anyone watch Dr. Phil? Sometimes I watch him. I watched Dr. Phil on Friday; it was about a mother who has two grown children with disabilities. The two children are in their 40’s and they have a disorder called Sanfilippo syndrome. It is a genetic disorder but doesn't show up until you're a few years old.
They live in an institution and their mother doesn’t see them often. She says that when she goes to visit her children, she believes that they do not know she’s there. She has no way to communicate with her children and for them to share what feelings they have.
So she goes to visit them every 2 months and she wants the right to euthanize her severely disabled children. They require feeding tubes to eat and the mother believes that this is the only thing keeping them alive. There was another mother on the show who has a special needs child. This mother says that euthanizing people is taking their lives away from them.
Here are my thoughts on the subject. It is hard topic to think about because I live with disability. I know what it is like to live with a disability. Sometimes I wish I didn’t have a disability but my disability isn’t as bad as other people.
If I had a severe form of a disability and if I had no idea about what is going on around me, then yes I hope my parents would do the right thing by my family and me.
In that case, if my parents wanted to put me in an institution, that would be okay with me. It probably wouldn’t make a difference to me. But, I know in my heart that when my family comes to visit, I will sense their presence. But I don't know if I want to live like a vegetable and have no quality of life. It would be up to my parents to keep me alive or not. If something happened to me and I lost my quality of life, I would want my parents to let me go. I know my family loves me and would want to do the right thing for me.
I understand the pain of what she is going through and I get what she is dealing with and I hope people understand that it’s not easy for her. She needs to do the right thing for her and her family and people should not judge. At the same time, just because someone has a disability, it doesn’t mean they don’t have a good quality of life. It all depends on the person and the disability.
I read your post on Dr. Phil. It was really well said and very eloquent. I think you did a great service to others who don't know what it is like to have a health condition like yours. Your opinion was really nice to see because those of us who don't have these every-day struggles can understand it some of the time, but only those who live with these types of struggles, understand everything you go through. Thank you
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