Kelly Vincent – 5RPH Interview on Growth Attenuation
28/10/2015
On Wednesday 28th October, Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent was interviewed on radio station 5RPH to discuss her concerns about the case of a young woman in New Zealand who has undergone growth attenuation treatment due to her disability. Here is the audio and transcript from the interview.
Pam Green: And it’s time to welcome to 5RPH Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent to question time. Hi Kelly.
Kelly Vincent: Hi Pam.
Pam Green: Well I understand an interesting issue from New Zealand has come to your attention in the last couple of days Kelly. Can you tell us a bit about this?
Kelly Vincent: Sure, this is the case of a now 10 year old girl in New Zealand who recently underwent the Ashley treatment. And the Ashley treatment is the colloquial name for a treatment that’s called growth attenuation, where a person is given hormones to stunt growth and prevent the oncoming of puberty through forced sterilisation. So this is a young woman who’s now unlikely to grow beyond the height of approximately four feet. And she will obviously never have the opportunity to have children or experience any other growth that other women may take for granted because of a decision that has been taken on her behalf by her parents from around 7 years of age.
Pam Green: And I guess the obvious question then, well why shouldn’t parents just be able to make decisions about their child’s health and body when they are under 18?
Kelly Vincent: Well, let me be very clear about this. I think that sterilisation in particular, should be allowed where there is a clear therapeutic reason for it to allow, such as if menstruation were to continue it would damage a person’s health or it’s significantly inconvenient for the person experiencing menstruation. But let’s be very clear about this. This case has occurred before this young person has ever experienced a period or ever experienced puberty. And so we do not know for sure that this will be inconvenient to her. So this is happening on the grounds of disability on the assumption that menstruation will be more inconvenient for her and more importantly for her family due to her disability. And the decision to stunt her growth, has been made, judging by the quotes in the media by her parents to make it easier for her parents to care for her. There have been quotes in the media saying, this will make it easier for us to carry this young woman with us to family events. Well Pam, it’s called a wheelchair.
Pam Green: Yeah.
Kelly Vincent: I certainly don’t need to be carried everywhere by my family. That would certainly be very inconvenient if that did need to happen. But there are other much more logical and less invasive steps that don’t impact on the person’s livelihood, body autonomy and rights. Those steps should have been considered first before this drastic, very invasive and barbaric procedure was even entertained.
Pam Green: Do you think this could be happening in Australia?
Kelly Vincent: Look, unfortunately I do. We know that the case of this particular young woman in New Zealand, whose name is Charley is not unique. In fact it was modelled on a case in about 2006 I believe about a young girl called Ashley, or known as Ashley X. And the reason this treatment that is the treatment of stunting growth and sterilisation has become known as the Ashley treatment. So the fact that these parents of this young woman called Charley, have drawn inspiration from that case in 2006 shows very clearly that this idea and concept of being a reasonable response to disability is still very much in our psyche in society and I think that is a huge concern. It’s very difficult to get the statistics as to how many women and girls in particular undergo this treatment because of disability as I understand it is not kept as a specific reason as to why sterilisation and other procedures might occur, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not occurring. And I think the fact that this has again come into play very recently shows that we’d be naïve to think it wouldn’t happen here in South Australia. So Dignity for Disability will be continuing this conversation and we’ll be raising this issue in the parliament at the state level over the coming weeks and we’ll be working with hopefully relevant medical bodies and legal bodies to identify what legal loopholes might exist to allow this to occur without significant evidence of need and consent and make sure that we do whatever we can on a policy and legislative level to close those loop holes.
Pam Green: Once again, thanks for your time today.
Kelly Vincent: That’s a pleasure, thanks Pam.
Pam Green: Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent.
