This comes hard on the heels of the Assisted Dying Bills' 2nd reading and vote.

There are many who cannot understand why disabled people are so worried about the bill - just because there are supposed to be 'safeguards'.

Many people more clever than me, who specialise in examining things like this say the safeguards are are not adequate, and there is no way they can guarantee those safeguards in the future.

There are too many ways to make additions or remove parts of it.

I'm not going to tell you what is wrong with me - that's my business, but I'll just give you an idea of how the diagnoses I have affect me and influence the medical profession in how they view me.

Two of the conditions I have cause pain - and a lot of it.
My primary diagnosis is like living with a 'pinball of pain'. It slowly rolls around my body causing pain where ever it goes. You can't plan for where it will go. It'll turn up anywhere it wants to and cause total havoc. If it hits a trigger point it will cause a cascade of pain and muscle spasms - sometime affecting the whole of my left side.
With every flare of this condition, the point where the muscle attaches to bone gets hard causing pain and stiffness in my joints.  It has also done horrible things to my eye muscles - even though they have no boney connection.

My secondary diagnosis hits the centre of my muscles, causes extra pain and comes with many suprise elements that are different for everyone who has it. It's a complicating feature to an already complex disorder

Having a disability has caused much medical discrimination over many years.
It has caused doctors not to check tests properly or bother to do requested follow ups.
I am put to the bottom of the pile for tests - so the 'more deserving well people' get them first.
My sanity and my mental health status is repeatedly questioned (I have no mental health issues and don't suffer with anxiety). My body just hurts.

My primary diagnosis is known to mimic other conditions - it's well documented in research done in Australia and America.
But doctors won't listen to the research and just want me to stop wasting resources.

There is much more discrimination I could tell you about - but you get the picture.

As just one example, this has resulted in a repeated test being misread 3 times over thirty years (only repeated to avoid being sued). Thanks to an eye specialist who didn't have an issue with disability, we found out how dangerous this misreading was. She insisted on a reading by a top radiographer. The result was a major issue being found that could have been a killer. I now know how to deal with it, and hopefully I'll be around a lot longer.

But will I?

My conditions are not curable. They cause chronic pain that is often almost unbearable. One has caused visual impairment and taken away my ability to sing .

Just the slightest change in wording in the bill would make me eligible for assited dying.

I am the first inch on that slippery slope and I don't want to die.

Sadly, there is a common misconception amongst doctors and nurses. Many believe no one wants to live with a disability. This has led to doctors, nurses and others assuming we wouldn't want to be resuscitated, and would gladly give up our lives for the peace of death (That's putting it far more nicely than it actually is!)

So, on 'International Day of Disabled Persons' in 2034, if I need an adaptation to help with my disability, will I be offered assisted dying instead?