There are multiple calls that come in to our organizations across the country. I'm happy to speak about two of them.
I had a phone call several weeks ago from a colleague who was representing a woman who is 17 years old. She was in intensive care and had a high-level spinal cord injury. She wanted to access MAID. Since then, our organization has been able to connect with the family and help them see that there is life after this initial insult of paralysis, and she has turned away from that. We're grateful for that, but the fact that a 17-year-old woman, who has enormous potential to contribute to our country, is even considering MAID is very problematic.
The other is a woman in her mid-30s who contacted me. She has multiple disabilities and has been looking for housing that would support her independence and her ability to return to work after the onset of a second disability after having a spinal-cord injury. After 10 years, her words, to paraphrase, were “I'm ready to throw in the towel. I cannot take this anymore. I want to lift myself out of poverty. I want to get a job, but I can't find a place to live that will support my independence.”