Disabled people in Scotland face a "hostile" environment due to a lack of accessible housing and poor employment prospects, a new Labour MSP has said.
Pam Duncan-Glancy, the first permanent wheelchair user elected to Holyrood, said thousands of Scots had gone without adequate care during the height of the coronavirus pandemic - leaving many families at "breaking point" as a result.
In an interview with the Record, the Glasgow MSP explained why she cannot support a proposed bill which would legalise assisted dying at a time when so many people are unable to live independently.
It comes as Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur announced his intention to bring forward a Members Bill at Holyrood which, if passed, would permit assisted dying for adults who are both terminally ill and mentally competent.
Around nine in 10 Scots are said to support the introduction of such legislation, McArthur said, though a previous bid to change the law at Holyrood was voted down by 82 votes to 36 in 2015.
In a widely shared response on social media last week, Duncan-Glancy wrote: “I am deeply worried about this. Disabled people do not yet enjoy our right to live equally. I’d far rather we had a right to live enshrined in law, long before we have a right to die. Until all things are equal, this is dangerous for disabled people.”
Speaking at her office in the Scottish Parliament this week, the Labour member said she was not surprised there was widespread public support for McArthur's plan.
She added: "I would say they've only really heard strong arguments from one side of the debate.
"That's consistent with the oppression that disabled people face across the piece. It's always difficult for disabled person's voices to be heard. If we had influence, we would be listened to.
"Disabled people, for example, during the pandemic have gone without care. Carers have had to provide in some cases 90 hours of unpaid care. Families are at breaking point."
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She continued: "There are 10,000 people waiting for accessible houses in Scotland. Disabled people are underrepresented in colleges and universities. Our educational attainment is lower. We are less likely to be employed.
"Until we address all of that, the situation for disabled people is somewhat hostile.
"And that's why I think having a conversation about what you choose to do at the end of your life, within that context, is dangerous.
"We need to spend much more parliamentary time, in my view, looking at what we can do to ensure people that live the lives that they have, and that they have structures and support around about them.
"Until all things are equal, this is a very dangerous argument to have."
The new MSP added: "The characterisation has always been about choice. And what I would say is, that's great, but disabled people don't have choice in their lives right now.
"Disabled people don't have the freedom of when they go to bed, they don't have the freedom of what time they eat their dinner.
"It's a dangerous environment to start asking if we want to live or die in that context."
Duncan-Glancy said she had felt an "overwhelming urgency" to try and make positive changes since her election in May.
"In terms of entering the parliament, I've never really had the opportunity to enjoy something on an equal basis before because there's always been things put in the way," she added.
"I've not had that here. The parliament staff have been incredible and the party has been outstanding.
"I don't think it's an accident that it's the Labour party who have first permanent wheelchair user elected to the Scottish Parliament.
"We are a party that really has put equality at the forefront of all the work we have done. We've not always got it right, and we have work to do, but is fundamentally about what we do."
