Video - Disability Day of Mourning: Solace in Online Spaces

CW: violence against people with disabilities

March 1st is the Disability Day of Mourning when we honor those with disabilities who are the victims of filicide.

Across the United States, approximately 12% of people have a disability. People with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty and become the victims of crimes. Every year, people with disabilities are murdered by their parents, family, or caregivers. 650 people with disabilities have lost their lives in this way over the last five years.

On March 1st each year, we hold the Disability Community Day of Mourning to honor and remember those who have been victims of filicide — both adults and children with disabilities who have been murdered by those closest to them.

While vigils are taking place across the globe, memorials are also occurring in online spaces as well. [short video of character in Minecraft to show how it works] In the virtual world of Minecraft, there are communities created specifically to be safe spaces for children and adults with disabilities. One parent in the Autcraft community has created a memorial commemorating the names of those lost to filicide. [a screenshot or two of the memorial]

While communities, like the Autcraft community, do a lot of outreach to educate others about anti-violence and anti-bullying and work to create inclusive spaces, more can be done to help marginalized individuals.

To find out how you can help visit the Autistic Self Advocacy Network website and download the anti-filicide toolkit.

For a list of victims, there is a virtual memorial, which can be found at disability dash memorial dot org.

Video by Kathryn Ringland and Severn Ringland.

Autistic Self Advocacy Network. (2019). 2019 Anti-Filicide Toolkit. Retrieved February 17, 2019, from https://autisticadvocacy.org/projects/community/mourning/anti-filicide/

Sullivan, P. M. (2009). Violence Exposure Among Children with Disabilities. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 12(2), 196–216. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10567-009-0056-1

Ringland, K. E. (2019). “Autsome”: Fostering an Autistic Identity in an Online Minecraft Community for Youth with Autism. In iConference 2019 Proceedings.

Ringland, K. E. (2019). A Place to Play: The (Dis)Abled Embodied Experience for Autistic Children in Online Spaces. In CHI 2019.

Bialik, K. (2017, July 27). 7 facts about Americans with disabilities. Retrieved February 17, 2019, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/07/27/7-facts-about-americans-with-disabilities/

Bittersweet” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/