DISABLED people’s organisations have called on the United Nations to declare that the passage of the assisted dying legislation breaches international human rights obligations under the UN Convention on Disabled Rights (UNCRPD)

Groups including Disabled People Against Cuts, Disability Rights UK and Not Dead Yet UK are supporting a complaint by two disabled individuals who argue that key elements of how the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is progressing through Parliament violate the rights of deaf and disabled people.

The complaint focuses on the barriers faced by deaf and disabled people and their organisations in engaging with the legislation, which they say has excluded those most affected. 

It highlights six key areas of concern, including the lack of pre-legislative consultation or scrutiny, the rapid speed of the Bill’s progress and the failure to provide accessible versions of the Bill and related materials.

The complaint will be submitted following the Bill’s report stage, due to take place tomorrow.

One of the complainants, Nicki Myers, 52, from Cambridge, lives with pulmonary fibrosis and is 99 per cent bed-bound. 

She has already surpassed a prognosis of five years to live and is supported by her local hospice. 

Ms Myers holds an advance directive for sedatives to ensure a peaceful death when the time comes, but says she is deeply concerned about the current legislative approach.

She said: “I was motivated to be a complainant in this case because I believe the way this legislation has been introduced, as a private member’s Bill, has meant the voices of people in my position — those who want to keep living as well as possible for as long as possible, and with good-quality services — have been ignored.

“When social security, fuel allowance, health, social care and palliative care services are all simultaneously under threat, it is not the right time for people to be asked if they want assistance from the state to end their lives.”

The other complainant, Nicola Waters, 51, from Essex, lives with motor neurone disease. 

She warned that under the current proposals, those living with terminal illnesses may be pushed toward assisted suicide rather than being offered meaningful support.

Ms Waters said: “Numerous amendments that would have made the Bill safer have been voted down. 

“As a result, I could be offered assisted suicide at every medical appointment I have.”

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The action follows a recent warning from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which urged MPs to consider serious unanswered questions about the Bill, particularly around safeguarding people with mental illness. 

The college raised concerns over the lack of protections for individuals at risk of self-harm or suicide and the insufficient number of consultant psychiatrists available to meet the demands of the proposed legislation.