CW: Ableism, Fillicide, & Nazism
Alex Simpson’s life is not defined by medical predictions. Born with hydranencephaly, doctors told her family she would not survive past childhood. Yet she is alive today, surrounded by love and the everyday rhythms of family life. Her story is one of devotion and dignity, a reminder that human worth is not measured by medical charts or societal expectations.
The comments attached to the article about Alex reveal how deeply ableism permeates our society. Instead of celebrating her humanity, many responses dehumanized her, describing her as “not really alive” or “a shell.” Others questioned whether her life has value, suggesting it was “pointless” or a “burden.” These remarks reflect a worldview that equates worth with productivity, independence, or cognitive ability, standards that exclude people like Alex. Some commenters fixated on what she “couldn’t do,” reinforcing a deficit-based narrative rather than recognizing the joy and connection she brings to her family. Others treated her survival as a spectacle, echoing a long history of disabled people being objectified as curiosities rather than respected as individuals.
Some of the most disturbing ableist comments invoke the idea of so‑called “mercy killings.” These remarks suggest that ending the life of someone with a profound disability could be an act of compassion, as if disability itself is a fate worse than death.
This framing is deeply harmful because it positions disabled lives as inherently tragic or unworthy, erasing the love, connection, and dignity that Alex embodies. The rhetoric of “mercy” in this context is not about kindness but about exclusion, it reflects a societal bias that equates difference with suffering and assumes that non‑disabled people have the authority to decide whose lives are worth living.
The idea of “mercy killings” has a long and troubling history. In Nazi Germany, the so‑called “T4 program” systematically murdered disabled children and adults under the guise of compassion, claiming it was merciful to end lives deemed unworthy. Even outside of such extreme cases, institutions across Europe and North America routinely justified neglect or abuse of disabled people by invoking the language of mercy, suggesting that suffering was inevitable and that death was preferable.
When commenters suggest that Alex’s life should have been ended for her own good, they echo those same historical narratives that equated disability with tragedy. The danger of this framing is that it normalizes violence and exclusion, cloaking prejudice in the language of compassion.
This rhetoric is not just historical. In 1993, Robert Latimer killed his 12‑year‑old daughter Tracy by pumping exhaust fumes into the cab of his truck. Tracy had severe cerebral palsy, and Latimer believed she experienced chronic pain. “The harm I caused by her death would have been less than the pain inflicted by her life,” he told CBC in 2019. Seeing a loved one in pain is heartbreaking, and many people with cerebral palsy do experience chronic pain. But Latimer should not have murdered his daughter. Decades later, he still insists he made the right choice, a chilling reminder of how ableist ideas about “mercy” can justify violence against disabled people.
Filicide is unfortunately common among parents of disabled children. According to one study conducted by The University of California, Irvine, 26 disabled children were identified as victims of filicide‑suicide in 22 news articles published between 1982 and 2010. Eighty‑one percent of the children slain were boys, and fifty‑four percent were autistic. Filicide occurs among children with a variety of different diagnoses.
Additionally, according to the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, there are over 1,900 disabled people who have been killed by their parents or other family members since they began keeping track of filicides in 2014. These numbers underscore how dangerous it is when society normalizes the idea that disabled lives are less valuable; it creates a climate where violence against them is excused or even justified.
What these comments miss is that Alex’s life is not defined by what she lacks, but by what she gives. Her presence shapes her family’s love, resilience, and sense of meaning. To dismiss her existence as “less than” is to misunderstand the essence of human dignity.
Ableist commentary doesn’t just harm individuals; it reinforces systemic discrimination, making it easier for society to justify inequities in healthcare, education, and accessibility. Even casual remarks like “I wouldn’t want to live like that” carry the weight of exclusion, suggesting that some lives are less worth living.
Alex’s story is not just about defying odds or becoming a spectacle. It is about the persistence of love and the dignity of a life lived fully on its own terms. The ableist comments remind us how far we still have to go in dismantling prejudice against disabled people, and how urgently we need to shift our discourse from pity and dismissal to respect and recognition.
Sources:
Good, Jules. “Forced Reporting Endangers Students with Disabilities .” New Hampshire Bulletin, States Newsroom , 5 Mar. 2024, newhampshirebulletin.com/2024/03/05/forced-reporting-endangers-students-with-disabilities/.
Issa, Omayra. “25 Years after Conviction, Robert Latimer Still Believes He Was Right to Kill His Daughter.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 15 Nov. 2019, http://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5360711.
Remington, Alexander M. “‘Life Unworthy of Life’ Aktion T4: The First Nazi Genocide.” The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College, Gettysburg College, 21 Apr. 2023.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2142&context=student_scholarship
Sheffield, Toria. “Woman Born without a Brain Turns 20 after Doctors Believed She Wouldn’t Live Past 4 Years Old: ‘She’s a Fighter.’” PEOPLE, People Inc, 9 Nov. 2025, people.com/nebraska-woman-born-without-brain-turns-20-11846464?hid=ea996ea918a5738b98727c4bd25e16a2873ea51a&did=20333261-20251109&utm_source=ppl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ppl-news_newsletter&utm_content=110925&lctg=ea996ea918a5738b98727c4bd25e16a2873ea51a&lr_input=a6218b697193aec7f8cafe38b5dbb3245c247a495f6ff272513f62425fcb8ecd&utm_term=PM&campaign=15625570.