International Disability Day of Mourning 2022

2 years ago 89

It�s March 1st, which means it�s once again the International Disability Day of Mourning. This is a day dedicated to mourning the losses of disabled people who were murdered, usually by parents or caregivers, because of their disability. It�s...

It�s March 1st, which means it�s once again the International Disability Day of Mourning. This is a day dedicated to mourning the losses of disabled people who were murdered, usually by parents or caregivers, because of their disability. It�s a solemn day for the disability community, and should be a solemn day for anybody who knows what it is.

I know I�ve been pretty quiet on here lately (I�ve a super busy patch at the moment), but I intend to keep my promise of publishing the names of people murdered just because they were autistic in the last year. Grim, I know. But I want to keep memorializing these people, both as a way to pay my respects and a way to demonstrate to readers the seriousness autism advocacy. The way that society views and treats autistic people matters. It is literally life or death. We as a global community urgently need to step up.

Unfortunately, I do not have the time to do a longer write-up on the significance of the International Disability Day of Mourning. But if you would like to read more, at the end of this post I will link to the previous three posts and name lists I have done on this day as well as the International Disability Day of Mourning Website.

Please take a moment of silence and contemplation as you read these names. Here is the list of autistic people murdered by their caregivers since last year:

Hezekiah Pettiford � Age 15

Peter Cuacuas � Age 7

Name Unknown � Age 16

Jax Ponomarenko � Age 5

Name Unknown � Age 9

Brian Cotter � Age 15

Liam Husted � Age 7

Darren Henson � Age 9

Hallen McConnie � Age 15

Chelsea Hill � Age 18

Connor Hill � Age 18

Mason Weston � Age 11

Richard Wix Jr. � Age 30

Kendrick Lee � Age 8

Nicole Hall � Age 8

Cara Broyles � Age 27

Ashton Yap � Age 11

Ethan Yap � Age 11

The list is longer this year than it was last year, standing yet again as a sickening reminder that we still have a long way to go. Lives stolen simply because of neurology. Let these names never be forgotten. Let the flame burn on.