PITTSBURGH — Brenda Dare is sick of going to funerals for people with disabilities and hearing others say that the person who died is in a better place.  “What better place is that?” said Dare, of Tri-County Patriots for Independent Living. “Here is a better place, in my heart is a better place, at my kitchen table is a better place. … How do we get to where here’s the better place?”

Dare, who uses a wheelchair, was one of several advocates for disability rights who spoke this week at a candlelight vigil honoring the lives of people with disabilities killed by their families and caretakers.