'I am worried disabled people will feel pressured to end their lives'

A disabled woman says the UK's assisted dying bill passing is "worrying" - and she fears disabled people will feel "pressured to end their lives".

Sarah Park, 43, has spina bifida (a type of neural tube defect) and hydrocephalus (a build-up of fluid in the brain) and uses a wheelchair to get around. She works as an inclusion and disability consultant, advocating for people with disabilities - and fears the impact of the assisted dying bill.

Today, MPs have voted in favour of a bill that would allow terminally ill adults with a life expectancy of less than six months to end their lives.

READ MORE: What is the assisted dying bill being debated by MPs on Friday?

The bill will allow adults who meet the criteria to request assistance from a doctor to end their life. They must be over the age of 18, have mental capacity, are terminally ill and in the final six months of their life.

Sarah wasn't expecting the bill to pass - and is concerned disabled people will be "forgotten". She fears it may lead to disabled people being 'encouraged to request assisted death'.

Sarah, from Bedford, said: "I understand that terminally ill people don't want to suffer unnecessarily. But one of my biggest concerns is disabled people already feel a bit of a burden and the support and services aren't there.

"Even if they wouldn't qualify for an assisted death under the new bill, it still adds up to the feeling that death is their only option.

"I'm not completely against the bill but if you make it easier for people to die, there will be people seeking it because the support and treatment they need isn't there.

"I think now the bill has passed, the safeguards will need to be watertight. How will they protect the most vulnerable from feeling pressured into making decisions they perhaps wouldn't make otherwise?"

Sarah, who works as a disability consultant under 'The Disability Diva', says to feel confident in the bill she'll need reassurance that other services won't fall by the wayside.

She said: "I hope they don't forget other things that need work - palliative care still needs investment. Things like support and healthcare for disabled people will still be needed. There are lots of people who, given the right treatment of medical and social support, can lead fulfilling lives.

"In my opinion, the systems to support people to live should have been improved before you make it easier for them to die."

Sarah said she's not completely devastated, although she hadn't wanted nor expected the bill to pass. She is now hoping to get clarification on the criteria around how to obtain assisted death to prevent disabled people accessing it for the wrong reasons.

She added: "It's quite a shock, but let's watch this space and see what happens next."