Ay no.

I perhaps imagine a lot of people scratching their heads wondering,

“What’s up with this girl? Why is she so angry about this? She must have know Thane was gonna die. He said so himself. He was terminally ill.”

Right?

Well, let me tell you something.

Saying that Thane must the exception amongst all the LIs when it comes to having an option to survive because he was terminally ill, is an act of ableism.

The funny thing about ableism is that it is so underrepresented, so un-acknowledge, so ignored, that people are not even aware they commit discrimination against people with mental/health conditions, but that they go so far as to perpetuate it as something completely rational.

Thane was terminally ill, therefore he must die in the game series.

This is ableism.

Why?

Because regardless of someone’s health condition, everyone has the same desire to survive. If Garrus had the chance to survive a rocket to the face, why can’t someone with a terminal condition recieve the proper treatment to survive a war? Genophage was made to be cured, despite being told that it would take years to develop it. And Quarians could adapt to their planet despite being told that such would take years.

So why was the man with Cystic Fibrosis *cough* sorry, I mean, with Kepral’s Syndrome, the only one to be condemned.

I can spread green pixie dust to violate people’s rights in the name of peace and homogeneous equality and turn everyone into organic-synthetic hybrids, but BioWare forbid we fix Space Cystic Fibrosis.

Everything can be fixed except for the guy with the health condition. [sarcasm]This gives players that actually suffer from this disease the comfort and hope that they need.[/sarcasm]

*applause* Well done, BioWare.

Thank you for using a character representative of a whole population suffering from disease and turning him into an insensitive lesson that has no positive outcome for the rest of us healthy players to learn from.

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Keep in mind that those who wished to cure him, do not wish to change the gaming experience for those who didn’t. We understand that people have different points of view and that they are also entitled to have their dramatic death scene with Thane. I have no problem with people wanting that.

What I do have a problem with is that I do not get the OPTION to cure him, or at least improve his health condition well enough for him to become more active. In a game based on player choices, I do not see why players couldn’t have the option in regards to Thane’s fate. I don’t understand why my having my own choices should affect other people’s playthroughs. I certainly won’t weep over people that choose to let Thane die. But I have as much right as them to have choices.

I still haven’t heard not one person get angry about the fact that you can choose to let Mordin live. But there’s a ton of people getting angry at the very IDEA that Thane could be given the chance to survive his encounter with Kai Leng. Why? Because Mordin didn’t have Cystic Fibrosis/Kepral’s Syndrome, like Thane did? Despite the fact that there was indeed treatment for Kepral’s Syndrome?

I ask everyone to re evaluate their feelings towards people with terminal illnesses. Do they not deserve a chance to be loved, and to fight for survival? Is it wrong for them to hope that they can live longer lives with treatment?

If your answer is “No, they do deserve a chance to experience life.” then you might want to rethink your stance against Thane’s survival against Kai Leng, and the denial of his taking treatment for his disease.