- When: June 3, 2016, one hour before a showing of Me Before You
- Where: Your local movie theater, many cities, USA and worldwide
- What: Peacefully distribute a leaflet
- Why: To oppose ableism and the film’s message that disabled people are better off dead (and that others are better off without us)
Me Before You is the latest Hollywood blockbuster to grossly misrepresent the lived experience of the majority of disabled people. In the film, a young man becomes disabled, falls in love with his ‘carer’ and they have an incredible 6 months together. Despite her opposition, however, our hero does the “honorable” thing by killing himself at the Swiss euthanasia clinic Dignitas – so she can move on and he is no longer a burden to her. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, Me Before You is little more than a disability snuff film, giving audiences the message that if you’re a disabled person, you’re better off dead.
Ways you can protest:
- Two or more people can peacefully hand out a leaflet (available on the Not Dead Yet website)
- Display a Me Before You protest banner (PDF), which can be made at local print shops
- Send a press release or use NDY’s release (coming soon) to send to your local media.
- Join the worldwide social media Thunderclap.
- Tweet using #MeBeforeYou #LiveBoldly #MeBeforeEuthanasia #MeBeforeAbleism
- Share the articles linked below with friends and colleagues.
For more information, see the following articles:
- Salon: Spare me, “Me Before You”: Hollywood’s new tearjerker is built on tired and damaging disability stereotypes
- Buzzfeed: People Are Annoyed About How “Me Before You” Represents Disability
- Dominick Evans: Hollywood Promotes the Idea It Is Better to be Dead Than Disabled
- Crippled Scholar: Why Are You Complaining? Some People Actually Feel That Way: A Critique of Me Before You
- Self: Why Some Disability Rights Activists Are Protesting ‘Me Before You’
For more information or to discuss your plans, contact John Kelly ([email protected]) or Diane Coleman ([email protected]).
