Harriet McBryde Johnson

Harriet McBryde Johnson (July 8, 1957 – June 4, 2008[1]) was an American author, attorney, and disability rights activist.

[1] In 2002, Johnson debated philosopher and bioethicist Peter Singer, challenging his belief that parents ought to be able to euthanize their disabled children.

[1] Unspeakable Conversations, Johnson's account of her encounters with Singer and the pro-euthanasia movement, was published in The New York Times Magazine in 2003.

She wanted disabled people to be placed in publicly financed home care provided by family, friends or neighbors, and not institutions.

[2] In an interview with The New York Times, Johnson jokingly described herself as "a bedpan crip" and "a jumble of bones in a floppy bag of skin.

[9] Regarding the attention her writings about the Terri Schiavo case received by the press, she commented:It's frustrating to me that it boiled down in the popular discussion to a conflict between right-to-life and right-to-die.