A vigil will be held Thursday in the Schine Student Center to remember, mourn and celebrate people with disabilities murdered by family members or caregivers, Syracuse University announced Tuesday.

The event will take place in Schine’s Rooms 304A and B from 2-3:30 p.m., according to a university press release. The Disability Student Union and Disability Cultural Center, in conjunction with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, will host the event, per the release.

People with disabilities are twice as likely as able-bodied people to be victims of violent crime, according to ASAN.

“The DDoM vigil is incredibly important because we need a space on campus to remember and mourn for the disabled folks that were killed, but also celebrate their lives,” said Priya Penner, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, in the press release.

Penner is a co-organizer of DDoM. She also said the event will draw attention to harmful media coverage of those killings, in the press release.

ASAN first started the national vigil initiative in 2012 after George Hodgins was murdered. Hodgins, an autistic adult living in California, was murdered by his own mother, according to autisticadvocacy.org. Zoe Gross of Oakland, California, organized a candlelight vigil immediately after the murder, according to autisticadvocacy.org.

SU has participated in the vigil every year since 2012, according to the press release Tuesday.

“The media often positions disability as inherently tragic and death as a mercy. Caregivers are valorized for their hard work and ‘suffering,’ and when they murder a disabled person, it’s portrayed as inevitable,” said Elly Wong, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and a co-organizer of DDoM, in the press release. “No sympathy is given to disabled people for being murdered, nor are the unique contributions they brought to their communities mourned.”

Published on February 27, 2018 at 9:24 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek