We were deeply saddened to hear that John Knight CBE, our esteemed patron, died on 2nd December.
When John joined My Death, My Decision’s assisted dying campaign as a board member, he quickly won us all over with his clarity of thought and articulacy, matched with a natural warmth and optimism. When ill health forced him to step down from the board, he nevertheless continued his support as a valued patron and adviser on disability.
John, who had had a number of severe disabilities since birth, was adamant he would not presume to speak for the wider heterogeneous community of disabled people when it came to assisted dying. But he felt a duty to echo the voices of the majority of them, who he saw as ‘widely ignored, unheard and misrepresented in the urgent national debate’.
It is no surprise, therefore, that the attitude of some opponents of assisted dying living with disabilities infuriated John, especially when they repeated their mantra ‘nothing about us without us’. As he succinctly put it:
“It bodes ill that disabled people with an established public platform persistently and knowingly misrepresent the views of the majority. They should stop.”
John worked professionally to enhance disabled people’s independence, autonomy and rights to self-determination, playing his part in major successes and legislative progress – notably the introduction of independent living services and the Disability Discrimination Acts. We have him to thank for the wheelchair spaces that are now a norm in railway carriages. He was made CBE in 2011 for services to people with disabilities.
His career spanned the voluntary and statutory sectors including the Department of Health, Leonard Cheshire Disability and the Commission for Public Appointments. John also held National Board level directorships of the Commission for Social Care Inspection (now part of the Care Quality Commission); the Charity Commission and the General Social Care Council (now part of Social Work England). John’s voluntary roles in public service included as a magistrate, in NHS Governance and in social housing.
We will miss, but never forget, John.
