ADAPT’s reaction to the Ashley Treatment
ADAPT reacts to news of “Ashley Treatment”
For Immediate Release:
January 5, 2007
For Information Contact:
Amber Smock (312) 253-7000 x191; Ambity@aol.com
Marsha Katz (406) 544-9504; ADAPTMT@aol. com
http://www.adapt. org
ADAPT Youth Appalled at Parents
Surgically Keeping Disabled Daughter Childlike
Youth members of the national disability rights organization,
ADAPT, today expressed shock and outrage on behalf of the entire
national membership of ADAPT at the news of nine-year-old Ashley
from Seattle, whose parents had her uterus, appendix and breast
buds removed, in addition to having her undergo hormone injections
in order to minimize her height and weight as she grows older. In
their blog, Ashley’s parents have rationalized these drastic
measures to manipulate Ashley’s size and physical maturity by
saying it will be easier for them to care for her and involve her
in family activities.
“As a young woman with a disability, I am extremely disturbed on
multiple levels by Ashley’s situation,” said Amber Smock of
Chicago, Illinois. ” I am angry that Ashley’s parents, the medical
establishment and society at large think it is acceptable to
surgically and hormonally manipulate Ashley because the reality of
her adulthood as a person with a disability is too ‘grotesque’ for
them. With these drastic measures, her parents and doctors are
physically reinforcing the disrespectful attitude held by many
that people with disabilities are all “childlike,” and can be
treated like property or science experiments. ”
Ashley has now become a modern day symbol of the long and
dishonorable tradition of sterilizing people with disabilities. In
1927 the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Buck vs. Bell upheld that
tradition as a way to “eliminate defectives from the gene pool.”
Today, parents and others rationalize sterilization by saying it
will prevent any possibility of pregnancy from abuse. Ashley has
not been reported to be at risk of either abuse or pregnancy, and
her parents say that her only caretakers are themselves and her
grandmother. Ashley’s parents also say in their blog that removal
of her uterus will prevent her from having periods. For over two
decades there have been far less invasive means of suppressing
menstruation in women when medically indicated. It is not known
why Ashley’s parents resorted to the much more invasive procedure
of a hysterectomy.
“Perhaps even more distressing to those of us with disabilities, ”
said Smock,” is that a medical ethics committee supports treating
Ashley not as a human being, but as a ‘problem’ to be managed in a
way they wouldn’t consider or allow for other children. We have
enough difficulty with the medical establishment’ s power over our
lives, and its lack of recognition of disability as a social
status and not a medical problem that must either be “cured” or
“killed.” This case opens the door for other people with
disabilities to be subject to mutilation and chemical castration,
simply because we have a disability.”
“The severity of Ashley’s disability does not mean that it’s okay
to treat her as less than a full human being,” continued Smock.
“The impact of Ashley’s situation is not limited to just her and
her family. Ashley’s mutilation has started us down a slippery
slope where her case could very well be used as a precedent to
damage one person with a disability after another. Instead of
mutilating children, we need to put our energy into assuring that
people with disabilities and their families have the support they
need to age naturally and live lives of quality in their own homes
and communities. ”
On behalf of ADAPT, Youth ADAPT members encourage the Seattle
Children’s Hospital ethics committee that approved the invasive
procedures to issue a statement acknowledging the socially and
other harmful aspects of what Ashley’s parents are now touting as
the “Ashley treatment.”
Source: ADAPT