#ddom2019

Disability activists and organizations are preparing for the annual Disability Day of Mourning on March 1st. Across the country, local communities will gather to commemorate people with disabilities murdered by family members or caretakers. 

The murders of people with disabilities are often framed as “mercy killings,” but that perception sets a dangerous precedent. "The value our society places on disabled people is shockingly clear," says activist, author, and speaker Emma Van der Klift. "Faced with a growing number of child murders perpetrated by parents upon their disabled offspring, the public seems unable to respond with the clarity reserved for the parents who murder their nondisabled children. When we mistake homicide for care and compassion, we help create a climate where these and other atrocities become possible.”

In Canada, Disability Day of Mourning was first observed in 2015, starting in Vancouver. Since then, vigils have been held as a yearly reminder that disability is not, and has never been, a justification for violence. 

2019 Vigils 

Vancouver, British Columbia:

@vancouverautistics will be holding their vigil in the Woodlands Memorial Garden, New Westminster from 5-6:30 pm. 

Event details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2243051655975208/

Winnipeg, Manitoba:

@manitobaautistics will be holding their vigil at the University of Winnipeg (The Hive), Winnipeg from 6-8 pm. 

Event details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/260070201577749

Guelph, Ontario: 

Kinnery Chaparrel (individual activist) will be holding a vigil in St. George’s Square, Guelph from 6 pm. 

Event details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/340573600000332/

Toronto, Ontario: 

Autistics 4 Autistics (A4A) will be holding their vigil on the Ryerson Campus (Sally Horsefall Eaton Centre Bldg, Room SHE560), Toronto from 3-5 pm. 

Event details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/349632405875581

Halifax, Nova Scotia: 

@novascotia-autistics will be holding their vigil in the Halifax Central Library (BMO Community Room on the 2nd floor), Halifax from 1-3 pm. 

[Header image description: single lit candle against a black background. Text reads "Disability Day of Mourning. Remembering people with disabilities murdered by caretakers"] Taking place on the unceded territory of the Katzie, Tsleil-Waututh (səl̓ilwətaɁɬ), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Qayqayt, Kwantlen, Stz'uminus, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) nations. Date: Friday, March 1st, 2019  Time: 5:00 - 7:00 PM Location: Woodlands Memorial Garden, New Westminster, BC V3L 5E8 Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2243051655975208/ -----

On March 1st, 2019, Autistics United Vancouver (previously ASAN Vancouver) will be holding a candlelit vigil for the seventh annual Disability Day of Mourning.

The International Disability Day of Mourning commemorates people with disabilities murdered by their caretakers. We honour and celebrate the lives of the victims, who have been taken away unjustly and much too soon. Woodlands Memorial Garden in New Westminster is dedicated to remembering those who died in the Woodlands Institution, which closed in 1996. It was the last and largest of B.C.'s institutions for people with developmental disabilities. The vigil will include several speeches from the disability community, a reading of victims' names, and a moment of silence.

If you have any questions, please contact Autistics United Vancouver via email at vancouverautistics[at]gmail[dot]com. Additional information and accessibility info under the Read More.

Tonight, disabled communities will gather across Canada to commemorate those we have lost to filicide.

Please join a local vigil if you can. For those who don't have a local vigil near you, we will be live streaming in Vancouver (link below).

If you cannot attend a vigil and need to mourn in your own way, please take that time for yourselves.

Let us take one night to grieve, and let our actions throughout the year fight against the ableism causes these deaths.

We’re not worth less because we’re disabled. We’re not worth less because we’re different. We’re not worth less because we’re neurodivergent, neuroatypical. 

We’re not broken. We’re not wrong. We’re not burdens. 

We are unique, wonderful, lovely human beings who deserve the same rights and same chances that nondisabled people get. 

such as the right to not be murdered by family. 

such as the right to not be disliked (or abused) because of something you can’t change. (my mother disliked my autistic and adhdness and it showed.)