Light It Up Red - Autism Acceptance
Find your local Day of Mourning vigil site
February 21, 2017
In the past five years, over four hundred people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents, relatives or caregivers.
On Wednesday, 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 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.
For the last six years, 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 Wednesday, March 1st – and we hope to see you there.
2017 Vigil Sites
USA
ARIZONA Tucson, AZ Tom Racey, cornelius41389us@gmail.com
CALIFORNIA Berkeley, CA Dolores Tejada, dolorestejada@gmail.com
Los Angeles, CA Daniel Au Valencia, danielauvalencia@gmail.com
Port Hueneme, CA Karen Reilly, karen@oceanviewinfo.com
Sacramento, CA Ashley Robertson, asansacramento@gmail.com
FLORIDA Tallahassee, FL Elizabeth Wang, ew12b@my.fsu.edu
Tampa, FL Cat Daly, cdalyjordan@gmail.com
GEORGIA Atlanta, GA Bennett Gaddes, bennettgaddes@gmail.com
ILLINOIS Chicago, IL Amanda Burkhart, asanchicagoland@gmail.com
MASSACHUSETTS Boston, MA Finn Gardiner, fgardiner@autisticadvocacy.org
Salem, MA Hala O’Keeffe, halaokeeffe@aya.yale.edu
MICHIGAN Grand Haven, MI Asa Rosema, asarosema@gmail.com
MISSOURI Kansas City, MO Spencer Hunley, spencer.hunley@gmail.com
NEVADA Reno, NV Deidre Hammon, csdlibrary@gmail.com
NEW JERSEY Edison, NJ Carole Tonks, ctonks@adacil.org
NEW YORK Bronxville, NY Emma Graydon, egraydon@gm.slc.edu
New York City, NY Elizabeth Rosenzweig, rosenzweig.ea@gmail.com
Purchase, NY Michelle P Mitchell, michelle.mitchell@purchase.edu
Rochester, NY Ericka Jones, ejones@cdrnys.org
Syracuse, NY Elly Wong, emwong@syr.edu
NORTH CAROLINA Asheville, NC Christiania Mullis, cmullis@unca.edu
Rocky Mount, NC Joshua White, whitejd4@appstate.edu
OREGON Portland, OR Rebekah Hunter rebekahahunter@gmail.com
PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh, PA Cori Frazer, cori@autisticpgh.org
TEXAS The Woodlands, TX Kristin Ongeri, elephantkristin@gmail.com
TENNESSEE Nashville, TN Chad Beadles, justmechadlyb@gmail.com
Pulaski, TN Candace Henshaw, daemion2011@hotmail.com
UTAH Salt Lake City, UT Stacy Stanford, stacykstanford@gmail.com
VIRGINIA Manassas, VA Mary Lopez, mlopez@ieccil.org
Williamsburg, VA Haley Outlaw, hnoutlaw@email.wm.edu
WASHINGTON STATE Seattle, WA Zack Siddeek, Zsiddeek@yahoo.com
WASHINGTON, DC Ma’ayan Anafi, maayan.anafi@gmail.com
CANADA
Vancouver, BC Vivian Ly & Sam McCulligh, vivianly4@gmail.com; sam5@shaw.ca
Winnipeg, MB Baden Gaeke Franz, asanwinnipeg@gmail.com
Halifax, NS Alex Kronstein, alexkron@live.ca
Guelph, ON Jennifer Howell, howell@alumni.uoguelph.ca
London, ON LAST (London Autistics Standing Together), LondonAutistics@gmail.com
AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Caitlin McGuren, caitlin.mcguren@gmail.com
Sydney Robin Eames, robin.m.eames@gmail.com
Virtual vigil