This Sunday, March 1, is the 2015 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 seventy people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents or caregivers.
 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 victim 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.  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. |
ÂCurrent vigil sites and contact information can be found on the ASAN website. Tempe, AZ |
Berkeley, CA Facebook event Brent White, brent@alacosta-acat.com The Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF), co-sponsor  Los Angeles, CA  Sacramento, CA  Washington, DC  Atlanta/Decatur, GA  Chicago, IL  Cambridge, MA  Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor, MI  Twin Cities, MN  Edison, NJ  Albuquerque, NM  Albany, NY Yosef Treitman, treitmaniac@gmail.com  New York City, NY (Manhattan)  New City, NY  Rochester, NY (March 2nd)  Portland, OR  Philadelphia, PA  Pittsburgh, PA  Houston, TX  Seattle, WA  Beloit, WI  CANADA  New Westminster, BC  Halifax, Nova Scotia  HUNGARY  Budapest  UNITED KINGDOM  Preston, Lancashire
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