Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Center for Independent Living is hosting a vigil at City Hall Park in Barre from 5 to 7 pm March 1 to honor people with disabilities who have been murdered in Vermont and elsewhere at the hands of their caregivers. While this is the first such event in the area, for the last five years, many disability rights organizations (including ADAPT, Not Dead Yet, the National Council on Independent Living and the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund) have come together on March 1, the Day of Mourning, to mourn the lives lost to filicide, bring awareness to these tragedies and demand justice and equal protection under the law for all people with disabilities.
VCIL peer advocate counselor coordinator Ericka Reil is coordinating the event. “We will gather to shed a light on a topic that is not always mentioned by media and not always prioritized by police. We want people to talk about people with disabilities that are being victimized by their caregivers. We want the violence to stop.”
The Vermont Center for Independent Living, a nonprofit organization directed and staffed by individuals with disabilities, works to promote the dignity, independence and civil rights of Vermonters with disabilities. Like other independent living centers across the country, VCIL is committed to cross-disability services, the promotion of active citizenship and working with others to create services that support self-determination and full participation in community life. For more information, visit www.vcil.org.