Nazis among us

The following is an excerpt from Asperger Square 8:

Minna Mettinen- Kekalainen, a 42 year old autistic woman with ALS has been denied services she needs to continue living. Apparently, the nursing agency that served her through the North East Community Care Access Centre in Sudbury, Ontario has reported harassment by Ms. Mettinen-Kekalainen since she threatened to report them for not following her doctor’s orders. The agency has said that they would not deny services to anyone, as long as their workers were “safe.” Meanwhile, the many forms of assistance she needs, listed by her as “basic hygiene, communication, mobility, and administration of medications, food and water” have been denied for forty days. It is hard to imagine that she could be much of a threat to anyone. No, she is being punished for speaking up for her rights. Judged as unworthy of care.

Read more about her story here and here and here and here.

Here it is. It is happening again, more slowly, no less inhumane.

Please help spread Minna's story. If you have a blog, post a line or two about Minna. Contact one or more of the people listed here. Unworthy? She is a human being, and that should be enough.

Sudbury MPP Rick BartolucciConstituency Office email: rbartolucci.mpp.co@liberal.ola.orgMinistry of Community Safety & Correctional Services email: rick.bartolucci@ontario.caMinister of Health & Long-Term Care David Caplan: ccu.moh@ontario.ca

North East Community Care Access Centre (the centre that is refusing care to Minna)Head Office/Sudbury Branch1760 Regent StreetSudbury ON P3E 3Z8(705) 522-3461 or 1 (800) 461-2919 (Sudbury)

Maison Vale Inco Hospice (the place Minna hopes to gain admittance to)(705) 674-92521028 South Bay Rd. Sudbury, ON P3E 6J7Website: http://www.maisonsudburyhospice.org/Resident Care Coordinator Elaine Klym: elaine@maisonsudburyhospice.orgExecutive Director is Léo Therrien

David Butler-Jones, Chief Public Health Officer; (613) 954-8524



If you think that's bad, read the other part:

Have you heard the story of Barry Baker? On November 29, Baker, a disabled man in Sussex, England, called for an ambulance. He recognized that he was having a heart attack. He wanted to live. The dispatcher stayed on the line with him, waiting for help to arrive. Before it did, he collapsed, but the dispatcher kept the line open. When the ambulance arrived, the two EMT workers opened the door to Mr. Baker’s house. They saw a messy house. A very messy house. They saw a very large man, a man with a disability, a very large man with a disability, collapsed on the floor of a very messy house. They talked about him. They talked about his house. Expressed disgust at the way he lived. They talked about whether or not he was worth saving, agreeing to report that he was dead when they got there. The dispatcher heard it all, and turned the tape over to authorities. The EMT workers were arrested, and are free on bail until late in February.

It happened on November 29, it’s an old story. It was quite a bit later when I heard it. Late in December, the company charged with cleaning the house chose to release photos of Baker’s home, allowing all the world to see and comment upon and judge the state of Baker’s living room. People like to see the evidence, decide for themselves. Worthy or unworthy? Barry Baker was left to die in this living room. It is too late for him.

Just over a week ago, Dave Hingsburger posted a blog in memory of Baker at Chewing the Fat. He promised to tell people the story, to keep it alive. Now, I am telling it here. Baker’s story, on its own, is important for many reasons. It demonstrates the occasional failure of agencies sworn to help, of people paid to help, to remember that they are not endowed with the authority to decide who lives and who dies. People who are disabled, people who are “difficult,” are equally worthy of life and dignity.

In his post about Barry Baker, Hingsburger wrote: I hope you will join me and bring Barry's story to others, begin a conversation of the dangers of disphobia and the need for us to be alert to the fact that those who are supposed to save us, may indeed kill us, that those who are supposed to care for us, may indeed hate us, that those who we are supposed to trust - can't be.

This is a truth that has once again been called into question.





Fact: Although euthanasia is technically illegal, those who kill disabled people often receive no jail time.

Fact: The law supports zero rights for the disabled.

Fact: In this society I am considered a second-class citizen.

Fact: Disabled people everywhere are danger of losing everything - even their life.

Fact: This isn't news.