Suicide is Not About You

April 8, 2014 at 3:41 pm (Reblogs, Reblogs with Commentary)
Tags: disability, illness, suicide

I recently read an article which did a great job of explaining an issue which is very important to me: the right to suicide when life becomes unbearable. I live in Washington State, USA; we have a Death with Dignity law here, but it only covers people with terminal diagnoses and less than 6 months to live. People like me – people who have non-lethal diseases which make our lives hell – are not protected. We’re forced to continue living through sheer hell while doctors tell us they can’t do anything and refuse to give us drugs which would ease our suffering somewhat because they’re worried about long term side effects. Our culture focuses far too much on preserving length of life and not nearly enough on improving quality.

Then Everything Changed

Warning: This is a candid piece about a difficult subject.  Please understand I am not advocating suicide nor is this a cry for help.  I’m encouraging understanding and compassion.

The chronically ill suffer from severe depression, grief, loss, and a high suicide rate, but these symptoms are rarely openly discussed.  Today, however, I will brave speaking candidly about the topic that is so much easier to ignore.  We all know it is there, but neither the chronically ill, nor the healthy want to acknowledge the elephant in the room hogging the sofa and the remote.  Why?  Simple, the hard truths everyone would have to acknowledge are more terrifying than an IRS audit on infinite loop.  Even at this moment many would rather suffer through its poor taste in TV shows than read on and acknowledge this particular elephant.

Well, I’ve never really been one to go with the flow.  We…

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