Movie reviews of "Million Dollar Baby" by persons with disabilities. Reviews of the movie by the "National Spinal Cord Injury Association", "Not Dead Yet" and "The American Association of People With Disabilities", along with commentary. Original music from rosaryfilms. The very idea that a severely disabled person might decide that their life is not worth living has driven various folks in the disability advocacy movement, as well as a few highly visible figures on the right-wing talk-show circuit and some in pro-life circles, into a frenzy. Marcie Roth, director of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, said she hates the film's ending because so many people still think that "having a spinal-cord injury is a fate worse than death... Unfortunately," she told The Associated Press, "the movie is saying death is better than disability." Eastwood's message that life with SCI, with a disability, is not worth living is a prejudice shared by many. Missing is an exploration of why Maggie was in a nursing home without rehabilitation rather than returning home and attempting a decent quality of life. Eastwood fails to include mention that it is discrimination, poverty, and an inaccessible society that sometimes lead newly-injured people to abandon hope and choose death. "Eastwood is remembered by many for his attack on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 2000," said Marcie Roth, CEO of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association. "I'm saddened but not surprised that he uses the power of fame and film to perpetuate his view that the lives of people with disabilities are not worth living." Perhaps this movie is Dirty Harry's revenge for being sued in 1997 after refusing to include $7000 worth of accessible bathrooms in his 6.7 million dollar resort renovation. Eastwood spearheaded the call to weaken the ADA by including a detrimental ninety-day notification provision. The fact that Eastwood refused pre-lawsuit notification via certified mail and was sued under California state law not the ADA came out at a subsequent congressional hearing. "Many people with SCI and other disabilities survive, thrive, and contribute to our society," stated Roth. "Dirty Harry could win the day and show us all a better use of his legendary talent by portraying disabled lives well-lived rather than sending the damaging message "better dead than disabled." Founded in 1948, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association is dedicated to improving the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of Americans with spinal cord injury and disease and their families. This number grows by approximately thirty newly-injured people each day. For more info on SCI see Source at: http://www.spinalcord.org. Marcia Roth, the association's chief executive, said the star was using the "power of fame and film to perpetuate his view that the lives of people with disabilities are not worth living." Last week, film critics attending their annual awards ceremony in Chicago were confronted by protesters from Not Dead Yet, an organisation that fights assisted suicide laws. The group was angry about the glowing reviews Million Dollar Baby had received, saying that critics were ignoring the film's underlying message which, it said, "promotes the killing of disabled people as the solution to the `problem' of disability." Steven Drake, a researcher for Not Dead Yet, said that the film "plays out killing as a romantic fantasy and gives emotional life to the `better dead than disabled' mindset." The film's release comes as the right-to-die debate is hotting up in the US. A new law being considered in California -- Eastwood's home state -- would allow doctor-assisted suicide. President Bush has made clear his opposition to euthanasia. Last year, his brother, Jeb, the governor of Florida, intervened in the case of Terry Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman whose parents are fighting her husband's wish to take her off life support.
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Million Dollar Baby "Anytime"by NightSky19201,866 views
Keep up the good fight.
donaghec 1 year ago
@donaghec - thank you for watching!
rosaryfilms 1 year ago