To the Guardian I am writing to complain about the article ‘Two into One’ written by Polly Toynbee on Friday 8th September 2000. I found this article to be very offensive, and damaging to disabled people. Ms Toynbee attempts to unravel the ethical debates around whether the Siamese twins Jodie and Mary should be separated or not. However is it really necessary to refers to these disabled babies as : "fascinatingly horrible freaks of nature (or of God, for those who imagine He in His bounty creates such things)." "the doctors officiously keeping alive this monstrous abnormality that might or might not be two people." "We no longer parade our freaks in fairgrounds, we put them in the courtroom for general public dissection instead." These phrases are unacceptably hostile and portray disabled people as freaks, monsters and as less than human. I don’t believe that there is any justification in using language like this. It demonstrates a ‘curious distaste’ for disabled people. Moreover, she perpetuate the myth that disabled peoples lives aren’t worth living, and that no effort should be made to enable them to live. "Far too much effort goes into officiously keeping alive damaged specks of humanity" Additionally, Ms Toynbee makes huge assumptions about the parental attitudes if one of the twins was to survive : "They may have to care for a severely disabled child with very little help. Since they cannot live with the idea that one child has been murdered to save the other, they are likely to pass those feelings on to the child. So they must be free to decide, relieving the squeamish judges of their sleepless nights. " I believe that she cannot possibly know how the parents would feel if this was to occur, and make these comments – not based on any degree of insightfulness or rational fact, but on her own fears. I was very disappointed to read something like this in the Guardian. Often, the biggest hurdle in disabled peoples lives isn’t their impairment – but attitudes like this. Vickie Heathcote |