What is this site?
The Disability Day of Mourning website is a memorial to the people with disabilities who were victims of filicide. Active cataloging of cases started in mid-2014; this site contains cases from 1980 to the present.
What is the Day of Mourning?
Every year on March 1st, the disability community comes together to remember the victims of filicide – people with disabilities killed by their family members. Vigils are held on the Day of Mourning in cities around the world.
What is filicide?
“Filicide” is the legal term for a parent murdering their child. In the disability community, “filicide” is used when talking about a parent or other relative or household member killing a child or adult relative with a disability, by action or inaction. Legally, these cases are categorized as murder, manslaughter, or simply homicide.
When we say “filicide,” we are talking about a pattern of violence that starts when a parent or caregiver murders their child or adult relative with a disability and continues in how these murders are reported, discussed, justified, excused, and replicated.
Further Reading
More information, including our Anti-Filicide Toolkit, can be found here.
Disability Day of Mourning In the News
2020 Memorial Lists
If you are aware of additional cases beyond those listed here or have additional information about a case listed, please email info@autisticadvocacy.org
Please be aware that this website contains images and names of people who have passed in photographs and printed material. Sorry Business is a set of traditions and ceremonies followed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people regarding the loss of a loved one. Sorry Business includes the practice of not using the deceased person’s name. We want to respect and honor this custom. There is no standard period of time, it is based on the grieving period of the family and friends. For victims who are Aboriginal or Torres Strait islander, we will look for the person’s wishes, and if that is not available, mirror the language that Australian Aboriginal groups are using. If there are no sources from Australian Aboriginal groups, we will use the same wording as local news sources.
Sources: Sorry Business (Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care); Death and Sorry Business (Common Ground)