In the past five years, over 550 people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents, relatives or caregivers.
On Thursday, March 1st, the disability community will gather across the nation to remember these disabled victims of filicide – disabled people murdered by their family members or caregivers.
In the year since our last vigil, our community has lost over 100 more people to filicide. These are just the cases that we are aware of – since we began monitoring this issue, we learn about more murders every week. We read the victims’ names, see their photographs, and gather what information we can about their lives. The criminal justice system has continued to give lighter sentences to parents and caregivers who murder disabled children. And we have seen both news and entertainment media continue to portray these murders in a sympathetic light. We hold the Day of Mourning vigils to draw attention to these injustices, to commemorate the lives of victims, and demand justice and equal protection under the law for all people with disabilities.
Since 2012, ASAN, ADAPT, Not Dead Yet, the National Council on Independent Living, the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, the American Association of People with Disabilities, and other disability rights organizations have come together to send a clear message that disability is not a justification for violence. We’ll be at our local vigils on Thursday, March 1st – and we hope to see you there.
If you cannot attend a vigil in-person, please consider taking part in our Virtual Vigil.
2018 Vigil Sites
USA
ARIZONA
Phoenix, AZ
Tara Marshall, azautisticadvocate@hotmail.com
CALIFORNIA
Claremont, CA
Donnie TC Denome, cdenome@students.pitzer.edu
Long Beach, CA
Christana Koch, kochchristiana388@gmail.com
Merced, CA
Megan Lambert, meganlambert1998@gmail.com
Napa, CA
Espi, pranzadia@gmail.com
Port Hueneme, CA
Karen Reilly, karen@oceanviewinfo.com
San Francisco, CA
George Fuller, george162@icloud.com
Siobhan Travers, cascade314@gmail.com
FLORIDA
Miami, FL
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami, outreach@uumiami.org
Orlando, FL
Florida ADAPT, cjdoghouse1@comcast.net
GEORGIA
Tucker, GA
disABILITY LINK, greenpogue@disabilitylink.org
IDAHO
Moscow, ID
Elizabeth Stevens, revehstevens@gmail.com
ILLINOIS
Champaign, IL
Kathleen Downes, kathleendownes93@gmail.com
Chicago, IL
Euree Kim and Timotheus Gordon, Jr, aaca.chicagoland@gmail.com
KANSAS
Valley Center, KS
Sabrina Percival, applesforcasefoundation@gmail.com
MAINE
Portland, ME
Meg Dyke, meganndyke@gmail.com
MARYLAND
College Park, MD
Blair Chisholm, terpsfordisabilityjustice@gmail.com
MASSACHUSETTS
Salem, MA
Saoirse Tilton and Hala O’Keeffe, hala@inclusionadvocacy.org
NEVADA
Reno, NV
Center for Self Determination, Csdlibrary@gmail.com
NEW JERSEY
Ewing, NJ
Elyan Chuba, chubaa1@tcnj.edu
Lakewood, NJ
Melanie Clark Mogavero, PhD, mmogavero@georgian.edu
NEW YORK
Albany, NY
Gregg Beratan, gberatan@cdrnys.org
Bronxville, NY
Amanda Wall, amandanw@charter.net
Rochester, NY
Ericka Jones, ejones@cdrnys.org
Syracuse, NY
Elly Wong, emwong@syr.edu
NORTH CAROLINA
Asheville, NC
Evelyn Chiang, echiang@unca.edu
Boone, NC
Autistic Students & Allies of the high country, whitejd4@appstate.edu
PENNSYLVANIA
Collegeville, PA
Jennifer Stevenson, jstevenson@ursinus.edu
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy, jess@autisticpgh.org
TEXAS
Fort Worth, TX
Sarah Christian, sarahechristian@yahoo.com
Galveston, TX
Katherine Sanger, ksanger@fromtheasylum.com
Houston, TX
Maria Town, Maria.town@houstontx.gov
TENNESSEE
Johnson City, TN
Courtney Johnson, johnsoncp@etsu.edu
UTAH
St. George, UT
Barbara Lefler, barbara@rrci.org
VIRGINIA
Manassas, VA
Independence Empowerment Center, info@ieccil.org
Williamsburg, VA
Alanna Van Valkenburgh & Chloe How, alannavanvalkenburgh@gmail.com
WASHINGTON STATE
Seattle, WA
Zack Siddeek, Zsiddeek@yahoo.com
WASHINGTON, DC
Kings Floyd, kingsley.floyd@gmail.com
WISCONSIN
Beloit, WI
Beloit Cross-Disability Coalition, Kosikac@beloit.edu
Milwaukee, WI
Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin, emilyl@assew.org
CANADA
Vancouver, BC
Vivian Ly & Sam McCulligh, vancouverautistics@gmail.com
Winnipeg, MB
Ron Salahub, rsalahub@mts.net
Halifax, NS
Alex Kronstein, alexkron@live.ca
Newmarket, ON
Mandy Klein, mandy@acts319.com
Toronto, ON
Anne Borden, aborden23@gmail.com
AUSTRALIA
Brisbane
Kit, caitlin.mcguren@gmail.com
Sydney
Robin Eames, robin.m.eames@gmail.com