[ASAN] 2014 Day of Mourning Vigils

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On Saturday, March 1st, the disability community will gather across America to remember disabled victims of filicide -- disabled people murdered by their family members or caregivers: http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50944/p/s ... e_KEY=7418

In recent years, we've seen a horrifying trend: parents and caregivers - those we should be able to trust most - are committing murder against disabled people under their power. There have been over forty such murders and murder-suicides that we know of in the last five years alone. The media portrays these murders as justifiable due to the "burden" of having a disabled person in the family. The murderers are then given sympathy and comparatively lighter sentences, and the victims are unfairly disregarded. For the last three years, ASAN, ADAPT, Not Dead Yet, the National Council on Independent Living and other disability rights organizations are coming together to mourn those losses, bring awareness to these tragedies, and demand justice and equal protection under the law for all people with disabilities.



This past year has been particularly tragic, as several prominent murder cases have occurred in our community. Just last month, on December 15th, the body of eight-year-old Randall Barrow was discovered in Alabama. His mother had drowned him and later killed herself. Only days later in Pennsylvania, 52 year-old Mickey Liposchok was found shot to death by his father in a murder-suicide. In both gruesome cases, the victims had a developmental disability.

Join the disability community and ASAN on March 1st to mourn the lives of those we've lost and bringing awareness to this horrific trend of violence against our community. If you're interested in leading a vigil in your area, please e-mail Julia Bascom, Director of Programs at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. ASAN will provide a toolkit and information on how to organize a vigil in your local community to all volunteers: http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50944/p/s ... e_KEY=7418

Autistic Self Advocacy Network: PO Box 66122 | Washington, DC 20035

Saturday, March 1st, the disability community will gather across America to remember disabled victims of filicide--disabled people murdered by their family members or caregivers:
http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50944/p/s ... e_KEY=7418

In the past five years, over forty Americans with disabilities have been murdered by their parents.

In the year since our last vigil, our community has lost at least ten more victims.

In January of 2014, two more disabled people were lost in murder-suicides at the hands of their parents: Damien Veraghen, age nine, and Vincent Phan, age twenty four.

These acts are horrific enough on their own. But they exist in the context of a larger pattern. A parent kills their disabled child. The media portrays these murders as justifiable and inevitable due to the "burden" of having a disabled person in the family. If the parent stands trial, they are given sympathy and comparatively lighter sentences, if they are sentenced at all. The victims is disregarded, blamed for their own murder at the hands of the person they should have been able to trust the most, and ultimately forgotten. And then the cycle repeats.

For the last three years, ASAN, ADAPT, Not Dead Yet, the National Council on Independent Living, the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, and other disability rights organizations have come together to mourn those losses, bring awareness to these tragedies, and demand justice and equal protection under the law for all people with disabilities. On March 1st, we will come together again, and we ask you to join us:
http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50944/p/s ... e_KEY=7418

So far, twenty three volunteers have signed up to serve as site coordinators for vigils across the country.
Current vigil sites:

Chico, CA
Theresa Beale

San Diego, CA
Andrew Raymond

San Francisco, CA
Rob Gross

Irvine, CA
Yvette Whitmer

Whittier, CA
Vicky Mesa

Chicago, IL
Carrie Kaufman

Medford, MA
Rachel Silverman

Baltimore, MD
Amanda Mills

Towson, MD
Rhonda Greenhaw

Battle Creek, MI
Lewis Harrison

Houghton, MI
Caroline Maye

Lansing, MI
Nathan Brown

Minneapolis, MN
Claire Sisson

Kansas City, MO
Teigan Hockman

St. Peters, MO
Emily Malabey

Lincoln, NE
Sharon DaVanport

Lindenwold, NJ
Destinee Coleman

Woodbridge, NJ
Evelyn Delgado

Phelps, NY
Colleen Peno

Poughkipsee, NY
Cara Liebowitz

Rochester, NY
Diane Coleman

Seattle, WA
Matt Young

Peterborough, Ontario
Leah Andrews

Sign up here to hold a vigil in your local community:
http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50944/p/s ... e_KEY=7418

ASAN will provide a toolkit and information on how to organize a vigil in your local community to all volunteers.

Autistic Self Advocacy Network: PO Box 66122 | Washington, DC 20035

This Saturday, March 1, is the 2014 Day of Mourning – a day for disability communities, organizations, and support groups around the country will gather and cherish the memories of those who we have lost to senselessness violence at the hands of those closest to us and to continue to strive to seek justice for these crimes so as to prevent them from ever occurring again.

In the past five years, over forty people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents. In the year since our last vigil, our community has lost at least ten more victims. In January of 2014 alone, two more disabled people were lost in murder-suicides at the hands of their parents: Damien Veraghen, age nine, and Vincent Phan, age twenty four.

In a horrifying trend, parents and caregivers—those whom one should be able to trust most—are committing murder against disabled people in their care. In the media, these murders are being labeled justifiable due to the “burden” of the disabled person’s care. The murderers are then given sympathy, and the victims are unfairly disregarded. The disabled community is coming together to mourn those losses and bring awareness to these tragedies.

ASAN asks you to join us on March 1 in this year’s vigils to bring awareness to the ongoing tragedy, and to demand equal rights, protection and justice for all citizens.

Current vigil sites and contact information can be found on the ASAN website:
http://autisticadvocacy.org/2014/02/day ... ng-2014-2/

Virtual vigil, for those unable to attend a local vigil:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1425356101042027/

Autistic Self Advocacy Network: PO Box 66122 | Washington, DC 20035

Join us tomorrow, March 1st to mourn those we've lost.

This Saturday, March 1, is the 2014 Day of Mourning – a day when the disability community around the world will gather to mourn and cherish the memories of those we have lost to senselessness violence at the hands of those closest to us, to bring awareness to this ongoing tragedy, and to demand equal rights, protection and justice for all citizens.

Thank you

By Julia Bascom
Director of Programs
Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Last Saturday, I stood in a park across from the Capitol Building, surrounded by my community, as we read a list of names. I could have sworn time stopped; we read down one poster, and then another, and every time I thought we were done, there were more names. I remember thinking, last year we only needed one poster.

The list of names was a list of disabled people who were murdered by their parents and caregivers. The youngest person was six months old. We've been making this list for three years; every year, more disabled people are murdered by the people they trusted the most, and every year, we find new names from previous years. Even this year, when the list of victims can no longer fit on one poster, we know we missed people.

How does a community heal from something like this?

As I stood in the park, I took strength in the fact that I was not alone. I was gathered with my community; across the country, 24 other vigils were happening. Disabled people, our loved ones, and our friends and allies stood together, mourned together, and called for justice together. This wasn't my pain alone--this was our pain. We felt it together, all across the globe, and we could do something about it, together. And that's the thing. We can do something about it.

It starts simply. It starts with remembering our dead. It starts with mourning, and it starts with saying, this is not okay. You cannot do this to us. It continues with demanding that our murders be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, that our victims not be blamed for our own murders, and that our lives as disabled people be fully and equally valued. It requires having blunt conversations about the way our society devalues and disposes of disabled people, and it requires all of us to stand together and demand an end.

It's a huge undertaking. It's overwhelming, and it's terrifying. And it's absolutely doable.
My heart aches for the year when we have no new names to add to the list. But I think about the strength and the resilience of my community, and I know: we can get there. We can stop this.

To everyone who came out to the vigils this year: thank you. To everyone who took time out of their lives to organize a vigil: thank you. To everyone who joins us, every time our community loses another life, in saying enough: thank you. There were more vigils this year than there have ever been before, and they were stronger and better organized. So are we.

We can stop this.

Julia Bascom
Director of Programs
Autistic Self Advocacy Network

A video from the vigil in Rockland County, NY:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vkXK_nyNXM[/youtube]