Day of Mourning 2015

Today is a very solemn day in the Disability Community, a day that we have set aside to mourn our collective dead murdered at the hands of parents and other caregivers.  

Today is our 4th annual Day of Mourning organized by the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, ADAPT, Not Dead Yet, and the National Council on Independent Living to remember people with disabilities who have lost their lives at the hands of their family members or caregivers. Join us to remember those we have lost, and remind the world that their lives had value...  

There are in-person vigils being held all across the U.S., in Canada, and abroad, but there is also a virtual one that you can join anywhere you are.

The chatroom opened at 3:00 pm EST, March 1, 2015. The live video broadcast began at 3:00 pm. Both will run until 7:00 pm EST or until we are done.:
https://sites.google.com/site/dayofmourning2015virtualvigil/home/virtual-vigil 

A Rallying Cry for Justice for Issy!

An update on Issy Stapleton... 

According to a recent post on her father's Facebook page, that has been reposted in various newspapers today and online, "A posting on Matt Stapleton's Facebook page says Isabelle is breathing on her own, walking, talking, and out of the critical care unit at a Grand Rapids hospital after doctors decided Friday to remove her from a ventilator."   

I am so very happy that Issy survived this heinous crime.  This proves that Issy is one tough little girl, not all victims of attempted murder are as lucky.  I can only hope that her mother, in addition to her current charge of attempted murder, also gets charged with a hate crime.   

“The current federal law regarding hate crimes deals with crimes where the offender is motivated by bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or ethnicity/national origin.”  Issy was attacked because she is Autistic, this does constitute a hate crime under Michigan and federal law and should be prosecuted as such, Issy deserves no less. 

 

I therefore appeal to all who live in Michigan, and those who do not as well, to contact the Michigan Alliance Against Hate Crime, on Issy Stapleton’s behalf and on behalf of all future Autistic victims of potential hate crimes, and push for a hate crime charge to be added: 

Michigan Alliance Against Hate Crime
c/o MDCR-Community Relations Division
110 West Michigan Avenue
Capital Tower Building, Ste. 900
Lansing, MI 48933 

Statewide Crisis Response: 1-800-482-3604
Main Line: 517-335-3165
Fax: 517-241-0546 

mdcrcrt@miaahc.com - for general inquiries 

VictimSupport@miaahc.org - to reach the Victim Support Sub-Committee 

CommunityResponse@miaahc.org - for the Community Response Sub-Committee

End the violence!

Stop killing or in the case of our most recent victim, a 14 year old girl named Issy Stapleton, attempting to kill, my fellow Autistics!  On Tuesday Issy's mother tried to kill her and then herself, but Issy did not die she is still in the hospital and has not yet regained consciousness.  We Autistics are not expendable, murder is murder.  No amount of spin in the media or on blogs can diminish that fact.  We are human and deserve respect!  This is a hate crime and should be charged as such.  Please sign the following petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/united-states-department-of-justice-charge-mother-who-tried-to-murder-autistic-child-with-federal-hate-crime

 

Published September 6, 2013 on Google+

Autistic Pride Day 2013

Today we Autistics celebrate Autistic Pride Day, if you are unfamiliar with this amazing celebration, I will now tell you a little bit about it.  Autistic Pride Day was started by Aspies for Freedom and first celebrated on June 18, 2005.  It is a positive day of celebration in response to the shame we are made to feel most days of our lives, the shame that many, but not all, Neurotypical people make us feel with their stares and critical words when we stim (rock or hand-flap) or talk too loud or when we bounce and jump around with excitement, etc. in other words when we are being our TRUE Autistic-selves.  No one should be made to feel ashamed for who they are, we are human just like you.  Ignorance is no excuse for prejudice or murder. 

I bring up murder due to the fact that many in the Autistic Community are still reeling from yet another act of extreme hatred perpetrated on one of our own, another Autistic was murdered this past week just because he was Autistic, and his name was Alex Spourdalakis.  His murder is not a rare occurrence in our community, if one takes the time to comb the virtual landscape one may unearth many more, Autistics are murdered all the time.  We are not “diseased”, we need no “cures”, and we are not expendable.  We are indeed normal and deserve to be treated as such. 

Take time to get to know us, verbal or nonverbal, we have much to share.  If we are unable to express words verbally do not push us to do so or become intensely frustrated that we cannot, instead introduce us to a form of Augmentative Alternative Communication, everyone has a need to be “heard”, it is a human right.  There are many forms of Augmentative Alternative Communication, give us a “voice”.  We are not less than you, we are just different and different is what makes this world an interesting place, if we were all the same this world would be very boring. 

Instead of pointing your finger at or laughing at someone who is acting “differently”, why not instead take a moment to understand them.  Understanding leads to Acceptance and Acceptance will make a better world.  Do not spend all of your energy and money (do not give to Autism Speaks) trying to “cure” us, or “fix” us in order for us to be more like you, instead get to know us on our terms and learn to accept us for who we are and how we are.  We are not the enemy, nor is our Autism.  Embrace differences do not push them away or exclude them.  Ours is a hidden disability.  Many in my community, verbal and nonverbal, are quite proud of their differences; as you know I am. 

Do not demoralize us or defame us or dehumanize us, instead accept us and appreciate us.  Celebrate our successes no matter how small they may seem.  What is needed is for society as a whole to accept Autistics for who we are, verbal or nonverbal, stims and all.  If we all work together we can make a better world. 

If you are not already Autistic and Proud, today is a great day to start!  Happy Autistic Pride Day everyone!

Something fun, join music therapist Veronica May (A.K.A. “Miss Veronica”) to learn about being proud, a BIG part of what Autistic Pride Day is all about! Autism Kids Video: Learn the Emotion "Proud" from Miss Veronica

Here is a video made by an Autistic self-advocate - Some Random Autistic - in honor of Autistic Pride Day. Autistic Pride Day

Published June 18, 2013 on Google+
 

Senseless murder

I do not know if you have heard, but there was an awful tragedy last week, one of our community was murdered.

George Hodgins was an Autistic man living in California, he had a passion for hiking, etc., his mother killed him and then she committed suicide. It is never OK to kill disabled people no matter what your excuse may be, we are all unique and deserve respect, we are not expendable. We are different, NOT less. This case really resonated with me because I am Autistic. I felt that I needed to draw your attention to his death and add my “voice” to the ether so that George’s death would not be forgotten and hopefully by sharing the following blog entry and my feelings, that tragedies like this will cease to occur. This is yet another reason why we need to work for Autism Acceptance in our communities that is the only way that we Autistics will be accepted as we truly are.

Below, I have chosen to highlight the blog of an Autistic self-advocate named Zoe. I am including her post about George Hodgins’ murder and the candlelight vigil that was held in his honor, there was a news segment included therein, but I was unable to copy that across to this site, in order to watch the news segment please click on the following link.

http://illusionofcompetence.blogspot.com/2012/03/remembering-george-hodgins.html

"Saturday, March 17, 2012
Remembering George Hodgins

This is what went on the news:

(News segment of the vigil, sorry, but I could not get it to paste here, you can watch it on Zoe's blog at the link listed above.)

This is what I said at the vigil:

Last Tuesday, George Hodgins was shot and killed by his mother, who then killed herself. George lived here in Sunnyvale and he was 22 years old. I didn’t know George, but I can’t stop thinking about him. Maybe it’s because we have a lot in common – we lived near each other, we were the same age, we’re both autistic, although we led very different lives. I would like to have met George, but I can only mourn him. And I can try to make sure that his story isn’t forgotten.

In the wake of this tragedy, I read a lot of articles that asked the readers to imagine how George’s mother must have felt. But I didn’t see a single article that asked the reader to empathize for George, to imagine how it feels to see your mother point a gun at you. I’ve seen a lot of people talking about how hard it must be to live with an autistic relative, but I didn’t see anyone talking about how terrible it must be to die knowing that your parent, who you love and depend on, has decided to hurt and kill you.

Because he was autistic, George is being erased from the story of his own murder.

The story of George Hodgins’ death is being discussed and presented as the story of a mother who snapped, and the story of other parents who have felt the same way. It’s being told as a story about a lack of services for families with special-needs children, as though a lack of services is a justification for murder.

When disabled people are murdered by their families, this is the story people want to hear. It’s the same story that we saw in newspapers after Katie McCarron was murdered, and after Jeremy Fraser was murdered, and after Glen Freaney was murdered, and after Zain and Faryaal Akhter were murdered. The story goes like this: it is understandable that someone would kill their disabled relative if they don’t get help to care for them.

I don’t think this is a true story.

Why is the story being told this way? Because we live in a world that doesn’t acknowledge the value of our lives as disabled people. Because so many people in our society can’t imagine a disabled person living a fulfilling life, so they don’t see the tragedy and the wasted potential when one of our lives is cut short.

As disabled people, we have to take a stand against this kind of thinking. We have to get the word out that our lives matter, that our lives are our own stories and not just the stories of our non-disabled parents and relatives and caretakers. We have to let people know that they are missing part of the story.

Because the story of George Hodgins’ murder is also the story of the disabled community losing one of our own. It’s the story of the other disabled people who were murdered by their family members, and it’s the story of the society that thinks so little of people with disabilities that these murders are all too often justified as 'understandable.' Most of all, it’s George’s story – the story of a young man who enjoyed hiking, who was always looking to learn new skills, who had his whole life in front of him.

Now George is gone, and only his memory remains, and already that memory is being distorted by people who want to tell his story and leave him out. That’s not going to happen tonight. We’re here to remember the real story."

Published March 18, 2012 on Google+