Every year on March 1st, the disability community comes together to remember the victims of filicide – people with disabilities killed by their family members. Vigils are held on the Day of Mourning in cities around the world.
Since 2012, Autistic Self Advocacy Network and other disability rights organizations have come together at local vigils across the country to mourn those losses, bring awareness to these tragedies, and demand justice and equal protection under the law for all people with disabilities.
Ways to participate:
- Visit Disability-Memorial.org, a memorial to the people with disabilities who were victims of filicide. Active cataloging of cases started in mid-2014; the site contains cases from 1980 to the present.
- Attend a vigil. Here’s a few that we found, but check to see if any organizations you know about are hosting a vigil too!
– University of Maryland President’s Commission on Disability Issues will host a Zoom vigil at 1 PM ET. Register on the event page.
– Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy is hosting an online vigil at 8 PM ET.
– If you attend Syracuse University, you can attend the Disability Cultural Center’s event with keynote speaker Touro College of Law professor Samuel Levine at 7 PM ET. Visit Syracuse University’s website for more information. - Host your own vigil. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network has created a toolkit and guide for vigil site coordinators. You can find all of these resources on their website.
SLN is committed to sharing resources and information to support siblings tools and support to advocate with their brothers and sisters. Visit our Resources section for more support.