A father's unselfish act is no threat to disabled people

Monday March 5, 2001

As a person who lives with cerebral palsy, I wish to comment on the Supreme Court of Canada decision to place Robert Latimer behind bars for life without parole for 10 years for the murder of his disabled daughter.
Many people with disabilities, as well as those involved with their care, are celebrating this decision; these people feel the lives of people with disabilities will somehow have more meaning now that he is being punished for ending his daughter's agonizing pain in the only way available to him.
Tracy Latimer was born with cerebral palsy, which left her profoundly disabled; unable to walk, talk or even learn like other children.
There was no way of helping her to even comprehend the pain she was having. The medical profession kept saying perhaps one more surgery would help, but had no way of guaranteeing it. They wouldn't give her stronger pain medication because her fragile body would probably have succumbed to that chemical invasion.
Those with disabilities and those who advocate on their behalf keep repeating that there were community resources, even institutions ready to support the family with Tracy's care. However, this situation is not about the availability of community supports.
There was no sure way of controlling this little one's pain short of risking her life. The most dedicated team of caregivers in the world could have been there, and the pain would still have overridden everything. The worst experience parents can ever have is watching a child suffer unmercifully and knowing there is not a thing they can do to alleviate it.
Can we not have some compassion for what both Tracy and Robert Latimer were going through? If we saw a puppy in this much agony, would we not feel it was cruel to allow it to suffer, and seek to end its suffering through euthanasia? Why isn't it right to let a helpless animal suffer, but some feel justified allowing a child to suffer?
It is difficult to comprehend the correlation between Latimer going to jail and the lives of people with disabilities being validated. No one anywhere is contemplating mercy killing just to get disabled people out of the way.
This is not about declaring open season on people with disabilities. This is about a man who was so desperate to help his daughter that he risked his freedom and livelihood to do it.
One has to ask what justice has been served by destroying a man's life and family by punishing him for an unselfish act he committed out of compassion and love for his daughter.
Other people who have destroyed children's lives have been given extremely light sentences - such as the woman who killed her granddaughter while trying to exorcise a demon and was deemed mentally incompetent; or Karla Homolka, who assisted with one of the most hideous crimes in Canadian history, and plea bargained her way into a manslaughter charge. The children killed by these women were normal, healthy children.
Would the judicial system have acted so harshly if advocacy groups for people with disabilities had not been so strongly opinionated and so willing to condemn Latimer for something which is no concern of theirs?
This case was about Robert and Tracy Latimer, not Robert Latimer versus people with disabilities. Being a psychologist and having cerebral palsy myself, it troubles me to realize many people with disabilities feel so little self-worth that they feel threatened by a loving father's act of desperation and unconditional love for his daughter.
There will come a time In each human's life when he or she decides consciously or unconsciously that it is time to die. Tracy Latimer was not capable of making the decision. Mother Nature could not make the decision because she was blocked by medical intervention. That left only her father to do what was right for her.

Valerie Baker
Waterloo, Ontario

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Valerie Baker has cerebral palsy, runs a small business, and works as a community consultant

Shirley McNaughton Ph.D., Member of the Order of Canada, worked closely with disabled people during her career as a teacher of alternative communication systems.