117 victims made known to us since our last day of mourning, 11 since the start of 2018. Stop murdering our people. #DisabilityDayofMourning #DDoM2018— autselfadvocacy (@autselfadvocacy) March 2, 2018
The folks at DDoM are aware of 143 disabled people killed by their parents or other caregivers in 2017 (if I counted correctly). 117 since the last Day of Mourning. 11 disabled people are known to have been killed in a similar fashion so far in 2018.
- In Japan, a son “stomped” his disabled father to death.
- In Italy, a 31-year-old woman was starved to death by her family.
- In the United States, a boyfriend stabbed his girlfriend to death. She was a wheelchair user.
Small, marginalized communities are used to grief. They’re also used to being blamed for the violence perpetrated against them. A disabled person is killed by a caregiver — usually a family member — at least every week. While individual stories sometimes splash sensationally across page and screen, there’s a sense among activists that the broader context remains unknown or ignored. Worse, too, often those sensationalized stories perpetuate the idea that it’s better to be dead than disabled, rewarding the killers with sympathetic profiles and understanding.