Please understand that we have already seen Covid policies that weigh disabled lives as less worthy of saving when resources are rationed. Having a man who proudly espouses these values shape our national Covid policy is so dangerous for #disabled Americans (and for our seniors.) https://twitter.com/thrasherxy/status/1325865699533856768

Some key quotes from that essay:

"But here is a simple truth that many of us seem to resist: living too long is also a loss. It renders many of us, if not disabled, then faltering and declining, a state that may not be worse than death but is nonetheless deprived."

"It robs us of our creativity and ability to contribute to work, society, the world. It transforms how people experience us, relate to us, and, most important, remember us. We are no longer remembered as vibrant and engaged but as feeble, ineffectual, even pathetic."

"We accommodate our physical & mental limitations. Our expectations shrink. Aware of our diminishing capacities, we choose ever more restricted activities and projects, to ensure we can fulfill them. [...] And so we remain content, but the canvas is now tiny."

"I'll leave aside the very real & oppressive financial & caregiving burdens that many, if not most, adults in the so-called sandwich generation are now experiencing, caught between the care of children & parents. Our living too long places real emotional weights on our progeny."

"We wish our kids to remember us in our prime. Active, vigorous, engaged, animated, astute, enthusiastic, funny, warm, loving. Not stooped & sluggish, forgetful & repetitive,constantly asking “What did she say?” We want to be remembered as independent,not experienced as BURDENS."

"But even if we manage not to become burdens to them, our shadowing them until their old age is also a loss. And leaving them—and our grandchildren—with memories framed not by our vivacity but by our frailty is the ultimate tragedy."

I take guidance from what Sir William Osler wrote [...]“Pneumonia may well be called the friend of the aged. Taken off by it in an acute, short, not often painful illness, the old man escapes those ‘cold gradations of decay’ so distressing to himself and to his friends.”

"I will accept only palliative—not curative—treatments if I am suffering pain or other disability."

While I am so appreciative that this new administration wants their covid response to be led by scientists, I am also alarmed that they have chosen Dr. Emmanuel for one of these positions. How can #disabled Americans & seniors feel safe with this man shaping Covid policy?

I will always remember the Trump administration as one that embraced eugenics and devalued my life in the most dangerous of ways.

I sincerely hope that @JoeBiden/ @KamalaHarris will hear the pleas of the disability community and not allow a dangerous eugenicist on their team.

**Updating this thread to add: I'm already seeing responses from people who are saying that this won't effect his Covid policy leadership in any way and that he would keep this separate. I think it's important to point out one key quote I left off my list to rebut that.

"Certainly if there were to be a flu pandemic, a YOUNGER person who has yet to live a complete life ought to get the vaccine or any antiviral drugs." He followed this by speaking AGAINST giving antibiotics necessary for the medically fragile to survive flu complications/pneumonia

So no, it's NOT a stretch to take his 2014 essay and apply it to a pandemic - because he already *specifically included* a pandemic as part of his arguments.

He's made his eugenic beliefs CRYSTAL clear, and those beliefs would undoubtedly shape his policy recommendations.

**ANOTHER update to add that apparently Dr. Emanuel ALSO publicly discounted the role of systemic racism in medical outcomes.

This man should NOT be shaping national response to a pandemic that disproportionately affects BIPOC. https://twitter.com/4WheelWorkOut/status/1325892424967757824?s=20