Coming Soon: In Honour of the 35th Anniversary of the ADA: Film, “Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide” to Stream Online July 23rd-30th, 2025

“Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide” to stream online July 23rd-30th, 2025

In honor of the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law on July 26, 1990, the new 36-minute film, “Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide” will be available for viewing online at Https://pamasprogressives.org from Wednesday July 23rd through Wednesday July 30th.

The 36-minute film, recently produced by Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide (PAMAS) and Karyl Evans Productions LLC, considers the historical context, current practice, and impact on health care of enabling medical providers to offer lethal drugs to patients for the purpose of ending their own lives.

With poetry and song written and performed by a West Haven, Connecticut-based poet, songwriter, and performance artist, Elaine Kolb, the film includes interviews with disability and social justice activists including Anita Cameron of Rochester, New York, former Director of Community Outreach at Not Dead Yet; Jules Good, programs coordinator of the Autism Self Advocacy Network and the founder and director of Neighborhood Access LLC of Barrington, New Hampshire;  nationally and internationally recognized palliative care specialist Dr. Diane Meier, professor at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine;  retired Connecticut disability rights attorney Nancy Alisberg; and five local community activists. The film is narrated by Scott Harris, with ASL interpretation by American School for the Deaf Community Interpreting.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) made history as the world’s first comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities. “Legalizing and normalizing medical assisted suicide is a direct threat to the disabled and the vulnerable,” noted Joan Cavanagh, a founding member of PAMAS, “so the film is very relevant to this important anniversary.”

A lawsuit was recently filed in Colorado to overturn that state’s assisted suicide law by a coalition of national and Colorado-based disability and patient advocacy groups. The plaintiffs argue that the Colorado assisted suicide law violates core protections under the U.S. Constitution and federal civil rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. In 2023, four disability justice groups filed a lawsuit to overturn California’s assisted suicide law as a violation of the ADA. That lawsuit was dismissed in court, but the decision is being appealed.

Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide was founded in 2021. Its goal is to help build a progressive, disability and human justice-based movement to prevent the legalization of medical assisted suicide and euthanasia and to end these practices where they exist. Its mission statement says: “We believe that the people who stand in the greatest danger of being further victimized by Medical Assisted Suicide are the poor, elderly, disabled, and people of color who are already marginalized, devalued, and threatened daily under the current medical system.

“We stand for economic and civil justice; universal, comprehensive, quality, and unrestricted healthcare for all; reproductive rights; and justice and safety for LGBTQIA people. We work to open a path for our fellow progressives who share these values to also recognize the dangers of medical assisted suicide and euthanasia and to join us in opposing these practices.”

“Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide” premiered at the Miller Library in Hamden, Connecticut, on March 25th and has since been shown at five other venues in Connecticut. Future showings are being scheduled, and the film is being distributed nationally. The goal is to foster discussion and question and answer sessions with audience members.

There is no registration required or charge for viewing the film.  PAMAS requests that viewers fill out the anonymous survey which will be available on the site.

Please contact PAMAS at [email protected] or [email protected] if you know of a venue that might be interested in a future showing and discussion of the film.

For more information, visit the website at Https://pamasprogressives.org.

“Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide” was partially funded by the Haymarket People’s Fund and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, with support from the Patients’ Rights Action Fund and Not Dead Yet, and fiscal sponsorship from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven and the Center for Disability Rights, New York.