Defending the Sciavo legislation

Harriet McBryde Johnson, a disability-rights lawyer who also suffers from a congenital disorder that may require permananent insertion of a feeding tube, argues in favor of the federal legislation passed on behalf of Terri Schiavo.

I hope against hope that I will never be one of those people in the shadows, that I will always, one way or another, be able to make my wishes known. I hope that I will not outlive my usefulness or my capacity (at least occasionally) to amuse the people around me. But if it happens otherwise, I hope whoever is appointed to speak for me will be subject to legal constraints. Even if my guardian thinks I'd be better off dead—even if I think so myself—I hope to live and die in a world that recognizes that killing, even of people with the most severe disabilities, is a matter of more than private concern.