Open Season

By Joe Coughlin

The Crown prosecutor in the Robert Latimer murder trial declared that Latimer’s conviction for second-degree murder would not be a proclamation of open season on "the disabled." In this case, and in several other high-profile cases involving the deaths of children with disabilities, the courts have displayed their usual judicial independence.

On the other hand, the media have whipped up public sympathy for this child killer through ignorant, irresponsible and biased reporting. As mainstream media continue to refer to people with disabilities as "victims" and "sufferers," they manage to propagate the negative stereotypes that often haunt most people with disabilities.

As a result, Robert Latimer has been seen as a compassionate and loving father who relieved his daughter of "intolerable pain." He should be seen as a cold-blooded murderer.

I believe 12-year-old Tracy Latimer was not a victim of cerebral palsy. She was a victim of a system that provides little or no help for her care at home. However, this same system can afford to pay over $600 a day to warehouse children with severe disabilities in sterile institutions. Current estimates peg the percentage of tax dollars going to the families who care for their children at home at only three per cent of the total care budget -- a pittance compared with the money that funds the institutional care settings. Yet recent incentives to fund more community-based health care programs have suffered from provincial budget axes.

Ryan Wilkinson’s mother, Catherine, also wanted to improve the quality of life and care for her son. Ryan had cerebral palsy and was deaf-blind. Friends of the family say he was a happy child who enjoyed life. Catherine, wanting to keep her child at their home in Hamilton, Ontario, exhausted herself with constant applications and appeals for more homecare dollars. After one last rejection by ministry officials, she chose a drastic end to the process. In an act of complete desperation, Catherine murdered her son and then took her own life.

Parents of children with acute special needs understand the hopelessness that Wilkinson and Latimer felt. Most of them have experienced similar frustrations; however, not many would choose such drastic solutions.

For those families that choose to care for their children at home, respite care and extra services are badly needed. As the number of children with disabilities increases, governments keep cutting back on community-based services and continue to fund institutions. This situation should be reversed. The taxpayer would benefit, and so would the children. I believe the deaths of Tracy and Ryan could have been prevented by a funding structure that was more responsive to these parents’ extraordinary needs.

If you read the newspaper coverage or saw the television reports of both cases, you are familiar with the gruesome details they provided. But the underlying reasons for the murders were seldom mentioned. Compounding the tragedy is the sensational manner in which these cases continue to be reported by mainstream media. Tabloid journalism has invaded the hallowed halls of some of the country’s more respected news organizations. It is now difficult to tell the difference between the "Toronto Sun" and the "National Enquirer," between "Hard Copy" and the 11-o’clock news reports. Focus has been on the blood-and-guts parts of the issues. Lazy journalists continue to ignore the fundamental causes behind these murders.

Documentation proves that mainstream media avoid reporting issues that affect most people with disabilities. Lack of knowledge about issues surrounding disability leaves journalists feeling uncomfortable or perhaps even confused when confronted with stories of this nature. What usually ends up being reported are tales of incredible heroics or utter despair. Most opinions in these cases tend to be from legal or medical professionals. Rarely is a person with a disability interviewed or quoted. While the media continue to remain ignorant of disability issues, the public never understands the whole story. Because of this, the public continues to think of us as either heroes or losers.

During these child murder cases, comparisons were drawn in the news to the Sue Rodriguez and "Nancy B." assisted suicides. Those events were also treated by the media in a sensational manner, and focused on these individuals’ hopelessness. According to most of the media coverage, the life of a person with a disability is one of unbearable pain and misery. Suicide is often seen as the only solution to end suffering, and talk about euthanasia and mercy killing only clouds the facts. Murder is murder, and suicide is suicide. They should not be presented by the media as the only hope.

In stark comparison, the media coverage of the Susan Smith murder case in the United States differs profoundly. Smith, the mother of two able-bodied children, is accused of drowning her children in the family car. Every media account has condemned this woman’s behaviour.

It is obvious that media coverage does have an impact on public opinion. What is confusing is the different angles of coverage. Tracy and Ryan were children with severe disabilities. Susan Smith’s two children did not have disabilities. Smith is portrayed as a monster. Latimer and Wilkinson are described as helpless victims of an uncaring system. The public is calling for the death penalty for Smith. Meanwhile, Latimer awaits the appeal of his conviction for second-degree murder in the comfort of his farm in Wilke, Saskatchewan.

Frequently, art imitates life. Recently, Hollywood’s hip, new medical show "ER" explored a similar situation. A young boy with severe disabilities was experiencing respiratory problems and was admitted to the hospital. After a short time in the emergency room, the father of the boy instructed the staff to refrain from resuscitating the boy. One compassionate doctor asked the father why he had issued an order that would in effect end the boy’s life. Like Latimer, this single father wanted out of what he considered to be an intolerable situation. Nobody thought to ask the child what he wanted. He took his wishes silently to his grave.

Today’s technology has enhanced the lives of many persons with disabilities. Well-known Professor Stephen Hawking has a severe disability, and creative assistive devices enable this brilliant man to contribute significantly to society. In his eyes, he is not a victim, nor does he "suffer" from his disability. His recent appearance on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" convinced viewers of this reality.

Perhaps if Tracy and Ryan had been allowed to live, they also would have found a way to contribute. They may not have become quantum physicists, but their lives could have had an impact. A society that makes investments in untapped human potential has a chance of survival. A society that allows the wanton disposal of its "less fortunate" is ultimately doomed.

Joseph Goebbels, the master of propaganda during Hitler’s reign, manipulated newspapers, radio and the movie industry. Using fact and fantasy, he lulled the German people into acceptance of the Final Solution. During the darkest days of the Third Reich, over 8,000 children with disabilities were murdered in a "humane" manner. They were gassed because of their imperfections, along with six million Jews, homosexuals and deviants.

Persons with disabilities are represented in all walks of life. We have made incredible progress in the last generation and will continue to do so in the next. But if the public continues to accept the murder of young children with disabilities, this progress is in jeopardy. We need to stop this form of genocide now, or it will escalate.

Mainstream media have declared open season on persons with disabilities by persisting in portraying us as helpless victims who should be put out of our misery. Complacency on our part will seal our fate. Let us declare open season on the media, and force them to portray people with disabilities as full and equal participants in the world. Tell them to leave their stories of victimization and suffering where they belong -- in the history books.

(Joe Coughlin is president of Simu Management, Inc., a full-service management communications consulting company in Toronto. He is also involved in writing, television and radio, and is an accomplished jazz vocalist.)