In March, Indiana observes Disability Awareness Month. The voices of people with disabilities are amplified through artworks, books, film, and words. It’s a great time to celebrate how far we have come and acknowledge the extremely long way we have to go in ensuring people with disabilities live lives of respect and choice.
March 1st is known as the Disability Day of Mourning. Since 2012, across the nation, we honor and mourn the deaths of people with disabilities whose lives were taken away by their parents and caregivers. The legal term for these kinds of murders are called filicide. Not only do we mourn these deaths, but we use this day to draw attention to the fact that these murders are taken less seriously than murders of nondisabled people.
Indiana Disability Justice asserts that the lives of disabled people are just as valued and important as the lives of the nondisabled. Societal change is needed to prevent violence against people with disabilities. We encourage you to take a moment to remember these people. We encourage you to visit our website www.indisabilityjustice.com, a place where we amplify the voices of disabled people in our efforts to end violence against people with disabilities, including sexual violence.
