This Disability Day of Mourning, and throughout this month, we mourn the murder and premature deaths of disabled people.
Those murdered by their caregivers or family.
The murder and premature deaths of disabled women and girls.
Those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disabled people.
Those of Brother Boys, Sister Girls, transgender, non-binary, and other gender-diverse disabled people.
Those who died in custody.
Those who died due to NDIS cuts, or from provider neglect.
And those caused by Australian-made weaponry in ongoing genocides around the world.
This day, we’d like to call out the media narrative around the recent deaths of Otis and Leon Clune. The discussion around their murder highlights just how little disabled lives are valued.
Empathy expressed for the killers, not their victims. A clear act of premeditated murder considered an “act of compassion”. That ending lives too often seen as a ‘burden’ is somehow understandable as an “act of love”.
This is a common narrative disabled people face. That ending the emotional suffering of abled people is worth more than our very lives.
No. Our lives are worth more than that. We are human beings, who have just as much right to life as anyone else.
We lead lives of meaning, those which benefit those around us. The warmth of our love, the joy of our company, others lives enriched by our presence. The art we make, the care we give, the work we perform.
These are no less valuable for their source. Yet today, disabled people are still paid less than others are for the same work.
The devaluing of our work is linked to the devaluing of our lives. Our exploitation for cheap labour is somehow one we ‘deserve’, to make up for the alleged ‘burden’ of our existence. Even though it’s known that each dollar spent on care for us gives $2.25 back in economic stimulus, we somehow still need to ‘earn’ that care. Government-provided care somehow ‘paid off’ through our exploitation for corporate profit.
This is not right or fair. Disabled people deserve better than this. Our lives should be worth the same as others, and what we do with those lives worth as much as what others do with theirs. We deserve the same pay for the same work. We deserve not to be exploited. Exploitation happening Australia wide, enabled by this false belief of inequality.
Please consider that when you see the ending of disabled lives treated as anything less than a tragedy, that that belief enables our exploitation. Exploitation the UN agrees is modern slavery.
Please help us fight this.
As all abled people are temporarily so, and anyone may join our ranks at any time. The fight for recognition of our worth today may well be your own fight tomorrow.