By Jackson Hawkins
Content Warning: This story discusses violence.
The annual Day of Mourning, hosted by the University of Maryland President’s Commission on Disability Issues, or PCDI, took place virtually Friday afternoon in remembrance of disabled people who were killed by their parents or caretakers.
“We do this vigil every year because we are tired. We are tired of our people being murdered by their parents, partners, relatives. We are tired of the media framing the murders of our people as understandable,” said Eryn Star, a 2018 alum of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s Autism Campus Inclusion Leadership Academy.
The vigil specifically highlighted victims of filicide. According to ASAN’s 2021 Anti-Filicide Toolkit, within the disability community, “filicide” is used when talking about a parent or other relative murdering a child or adult relative with a disability.
ASAN started the National Day of Mourning in 2012 as a response to the murder of George Hodgins, a 22-year-old autistic man from California who was killed by his mother. The university has hosted this event since 2018 and each year there are multiple moments of silence for those who have passed away. The moments of silence for each victim of filicide this year were announced by Chaplain Tarif Shraim and Chetan Joshi, the director of the counseling center.
According to ASAN’s data, 131 people died by filicide in the last year. ASAN has compiled a list of over 1400 reported murders of people with disabilities by relatives or caregivers over the last 40 years.
Emily Singer Lucio, UMD’s ADA and 504 coordinator, also gave opening remarks and brought in a different perspective on the filicide situation. She focused on what can be done to lift the weight off of caretakers, who spend a great amount of time tending to their children with disabilities.
“What we need to do as a country and as a society is lessen that burden on parents, helping them and providing them resources because every life is valuable,” Singer Lucio said in an interview.
Michelle Appel, the assistant vice president of institutional research planning and assessment at UMD, attended her first day of mourning in 2016 at the U.S. Capitol building. In the vigil on Friday, she read a passage from ASAN co-founder Ari Ne’eman called “On Our Backs, We Will Carry Them.”
“We stand on the shoulders of those that came before us. We are bound together by the memory of those who fought on our behalf. But the memories that tie us together as a community aren’t just the happy moments …We bond over our sorrows as well,” Appel said.
UMD’s PCDI wants to make it known that by honoring disabled victims of murder and celebrating the lives that they lived, these vigils send a message that disability is not a justification for violence.
Featured Image: The Administration building, where PCDI is located. Photo from University of Maryland Division of Administration Website.