Aging with Cerebral Palsy, Dying with Cerebral Palsy: Insights on a More Inclusive Society

If everyone can freely decide for themselves on how to live, where to learn, and how to die without discrimination and decisions forced by others, only then would we achieve a true inclusive society. This paper is not written from a medical standpoint, but focuses on a vision towards a more inclusive society through the eyes of the co-author, an activist with cerebral palsy who fought for disability rights throughout her life. In previous paper, we discussed how living with people with childhood disabilities can make the world more accessible, inclusive, and sustainable.1 This paper is a continuation and advancement of that discussion. On July 3, 2024, the Japanese Supreme Court ruled the Japanese government guilty of violating the Japanese constitution in the inhuman forced sterilization of over 25,000 estimated victims under the Eugenic Protection Act. Our disability colleagues finally accomplished reparation from the national government. We felt this was an opportune time to revisit the roots of the Japanese Eugenic Protection Act. This search took us to the memorials of the Killing Centers in Hadamar near Frankfurt, Germany, and Hartheim, a suburb of Linz, Austria where we learned in depth about the Nazi eugenic ideology and the historical crime against people with disabilities. These Killing Centers were the starting point of all of the Nazi genocide that followed. Combining our newly gained insight, the lifelong experience of the co-author, and our observations of the care our parents required at the end of their lives, we have some thoughts to share on important human rights issues regarding disabilities.