Individuals with disabilities are two to five times more likely to become victims of violent crimes than any other segment of the general population in America. Internationally, the disabled may suffer in even higher proportions. To combat the victimization of the disabled, Marcie Davis has taken action to educate the general public to the problem, while calling upon it to help defend the rights, dignity, and safety of those among us who constitute the most vulnerable in our society: the disabled.
To address a growing but largely unacknowledged problem, Marcie created the advocacy group, Violence Against Individuals with Disabilities, which exists within and draws upon the expertise of the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs. Marcie has independently raised the funds necessary to train law enforcement officers, prosecutors, investigators, victim advocates, and disability advocates on identifying, investigating, and prosecuting crimes against individuals with disabilities. She has brought to the project a passionate, unwavering commitment to raise the consciousness of the general population about a serious issue, and to defend the disabled against any further harm to body or psyche. She has vowed to continue advocating for the personal security of the disabled -- here and abroad.
As part of her advocacy, Marcie has championed the role of service dogs for the disabled. She knows from experience. Her own service dog, a golden retriever named Morgan, has changed her life, helping her accomplish simple physical tasks that, as a woman with paralysis, could hold potential risks. Morgan not only provides her protection, but also helps Marcie in tasks that challenge every disabled person: transferring from wheelchair into bed at night; opening and closing all of the doors at home and commercial doors in public places, helping grasp everyday items for Marcie that lie beyond her reach or abilities to pick up. But Morgan does more than provide security and help for Marcie in terms of mobility and dexterity. The service dog also brightens Marcie’s day, giving her the independence that keeps her working and active. For these reasons, Marcie would like to see every disabled person have such a constant companion, a source of unconditional love, and a fierce protector against all those who would threaten or otherwise harm him or her.
Personal security for the disabled is neither an abstract nor fashionable cause for Marcie. She knows the issues intimately, and at first hand. Spinal myelitis struck her at age six, and the affliction soon confined her to a wheelchair. Having lost her father to pancreatic cancer when she reached age nine, Marcie grew up as latchkey kid, raised by a single mother with minimal resources. Marcie knows that many would and do target the disadvantaged and the disabled, precisely because the larger society often perceives the latter two as “weak,” and or somehow how “defective.” But Marcie Davis counters such perceptions with a sharp intelligence, a keen sense of justice and fairness, the very qualities that drive her uncompromising commitment to advocate for people who often cannot -- and do not have anyone to -- advocate for themselves.
To learn more about Marcie and her cause, and how you can make a difference, please visit: www.swcp.com/nmcsaas/about.html.
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