For Immediate Release

March 28, 2012
Local Contact: Chris Hilderbrant
Email:  childerbrant@cdrnys.org

Disability Community Remembers George Hodgins and Other Disabled Victims of Domestic Violence

[Rochester, NY]  – Local disability rights advocates will be holding a memorial service on Friday, March 30, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. to honor the lives of disabled people murdered by their families and caretakers. This is part of a Nation-wide Day of Mourning, during which disability rights activists in over 15 cities across America will hold events to remember members of the disability community whose lives were lost to domestic violence.  (See http://shar.es/pztPY for national press release.)  The Rochester service will be held at the Center for Disability Rights at 497 State Street.

This national observance was sparked by events that began on March 6, when George Hodgins, a 22-year-old autistic man, was murdered by his mother in Sunnyvale, California. In response, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) held a vigil in Sunnyvale on March 16th. During the vigil, mourners read a list of names, beginning with Tracy Latimer, a disabled teenager killed by her father in 1993.
At the same time as ASAN’s vigil was being held, Tracy’s father was speaking on a television panel for the Canadian Global News, arguing for legalizing the killing of disabled people – in the name of “mercy.”
“When disabled people are murdered by caretakers or family members, many people justify these murders as ‘understandable,’ or talk about the ‘burden’ of caring for someone with a disability,” said Stephen Drake, research analyst for Not Dead Yet, a national disability group headquartered in Rochester to oppose euthanasia. This is the view that was aired on Canadian Global News, and in many news articles covering the murder of George Hodgins. “Many people are quick to justify the murder of a disabled person, when they would offer no such justification if the murder victim were not disabled,” Drake said.
The Canadian TV broadcast was followed by a live online blog featuring Latimer and two other advocates for the right of family members to commit euthanasia.  Not Dead Yet helped organize people with disabilities to participate in the online blog to argue against the proposed right to kill older and disabled people.

“ASAN and Not Dead Yet have called for this National Day of Mourning to demonstrate to the community that the lives of disabled people have value equal to everyone else,” said Diane Coleman, President/CEO of Not Dead Yet. “We will not be silent when proposals to end our lives are raised.”