Last updated on: 6/1/2009 | Author: ProCon.org

Rhoda Olkin, PhD Biography

Title:
Professor at the California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University
Position:
Con to the question "Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?"
Reasoning:

“In a society in which people with disabilities are one of the most disadvantaged minority groups, we do not have the luxury of thinking of PAS as a final act of self-determination. We are a vulnerable population, subject to forced sterilization, ostracization, stigma, and discrimination. It is not paternalistic to think that people with disabilities will be coerced into PAS (or killed without their permission); to argue that people with disabilities have as much free will as the nondisabled is to ignore the oppression of people with disabilities. I do not want to talk about how to die until we have addressed the oppression affecting how I live.”

“Why I Changed My Mind About Physician-Assisted Suicide: How Stanford University Made a Radical Out of Me,” Journal of Disability Policy Studies, Summer 2005
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
    Experts
Individuals with MDs, JDs, PhDs, or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to end-of-life issues. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to end-of-life.
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Professor, California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University
  • Staff Member, Through the Looking Glass
  • Member, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Task Force on Disability & Substance Abuse, 2002-Present
  • Editorial Board, Rehabilitation Psychology, 2002-Present
  • Member, American Psychological Association’s Committee on Disability Issues in Psychology; Member, 2002-2003; Chair, 2004
  • Book Review Board, The Family Psychologist, 1990-present
  • Alliant International University President’s Award for Faculty Excellence, June 2003
  • American Psychological Association Division 43 (Family Psychology) Carolyn Attneave award, Aug. 2001
  • American Psychological Association Division 22 (Rehabilitation Psychology) award, Aug. 2001
  • Guest Editor, The Family Psychologist, Special Issue on Disability, 1994
  • Member, American and California Associations for Marital and Family Therapy
  • Member, American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Psychologists and Social Workers
  • Member, American Association of University Professors
  • Member, American Counseling Association
  • Member, American Family Therapy Academy
Education:
  • PhD, Counseling Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1981
  • MA, Counseling Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1977
  • BA, Psychology, Stanford University, 1975
Other:
  • None found