Reid Davenport on "Life After" and the Fight Over Disabled Quality of Life

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/INRjvz4emc4 For our final episode of Season 3, we interview documentary filmmaker Reid Davenport about his film "Life After," which revisits the 1983 case of Elizabeth Bouvia to examine ongoing debates about assisted dying, autonomy, and systemic abandonment of disabled people. Reid explains he was drawn to tensions between nondisabled and disabled progressives and to how media framed Bouvia's desire to die as caused by disability while ignoring factors like divorce, miscarriage, discrimination, isolation, poverty, and inadequate healthcare. He argues bodily autonomy is shaped by surrounding conditions and that people need the right and support to live as they choose before the right to die. The discussion highlights medical and state ableism, misjudgments about disabled quality of life, the need to center disabled voices, and concerns illustrated in the film about assisted suicide access in Canada amid poor support and care. Watch "Life After" on PBS Independent Lens: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/life-after/ "Life After" website: https://www.lifeafterfilm.com/ Reid Davenport's website: https://www.reiddavenport.com/