A VOICE UNHEARD. The Latimer Case and People with Disabilities

Softcover. The evening of October 12, 1992, Robert Latimer decided to kill his oldest child, Tracy. Tracy was brain damaged with severe spastic cerebral palsy. She would not develop like other children her age and the distorted messages from her brain would pull her growing body out of alignment. It had been less than 2 weeks since Sue Rodriguez lost her Supreme Court bid for a constitutional exemption in her battle for a physician-aided death. Public suppport for assisted suicide was high. Tracy Latimer could not speak, however, her life was much more than Canadians have been led to believe and her voice had been overlooked in the debate over whether her father received justice. Tracy's was not the only unheard voice. Disability is severly stigmatised in Canada. One of the manifestations of that stigma is the selective deafness of the able-bodied population on issues of vital importance to citizens with disabilities. The author shows the positive options for Canadians with disabilities. It features parents, able-bodied and disabled, who see potential where others see only dark despair. She shows how the majority of people with disabilities knew that death was not Tracy Latimer's only option. Their voices are valid in the debate about Robert Latimer and disability and must be heard. With Appendix, Glossary of Disability Organization Acronyms, References, Interviews. 176pp. trade size softcover. From the library of true-crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F.