Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson are clones on the run in
Michael Bay’s futuristic action film The Island.

Despite people like self-proclaimed atheist and disability rights attorney Harriet McBryde Johnson (Why Congress was right to stick up for Terri Schiavo: article in Slate, NPR audio link) advocating otherwise, many argued that only extreme religious-right fanatics saw the Terri Schiavo issue as anything but being about a patient’s wishes and her husband’s right to act on her behalf regarding those wishes. (Ms. Johnson argued that “Florida law would not allow a husband to kill a nondisabled wife by starvation and dehydration; killing is not ordinarily considered a private family concern or a matter of choice.”) Some of these types of issues are now raised, of all places, in a Hollywood film — The Island (read review).

“Who is human – and on what basis? If the definition is fluid (as moral relativists of the scientific community would have it), will you always make the cut?” is the question posed by Don Feder in his film review and commentary CULTURE OF DEATH BUILDS A BRIDGE TO “THE ISLAND”. Because of the ebb and flow of symptoms and problems, “making the cut” is something that often concerns those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. Whether those symptoms make someone any less human is something everyone should decide for him- or herself, while he or she still can.

Additional reading:

The Island review

Ability magazine interview of Harriet McBryde Johnson: Civil Rights Attorney

Too Late To Die Young:book by Harriet McBryde Johnson

Humans Without Rights on “The Island” is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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In her book Too Late to Die Young, Johnson details what life is like for someone who must depend on a personal assistant to help her attend to many of her daily needs and chores. Johnson explains how she faces her challenges from the seat of her motorized wheelchair by tackling none other than the animal rights advocate and euthanasia champion who believes that “children like her” should be killed at birth to allow the parents to have children who will lead a “happier life.”

Recommended reading:

Unspeakable Conversations
A February 16, 2003 The New York Times Magazine article by disability rights lawyer Harriet McBryde Johnson. In the article, Johnson discusses her trip to Princeton during which she takes part in a class discussion about disability-based infanticide and the prejudices that propel the assisted suicide movement. Johnson also describes her encounters with infanticide advocate Peter Singer.

Time to take back the ADA – RECLAIMING OUR CIVIL RIGHTS
An article by disability advocate lawyer Harriet McBryde Johnson about the clarifications that need to be made to close the loopholes in the Americans with Disabilities Acts. She argues that the burden of proof should be on the employer to show that an employee cannot perform a task, and that the ADA needs to be broadened so that people don’t fall through the cracks of the system.

Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales from a Life is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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