"Like the cherry blossom, life is both delicate and beautiful—its fleeting bloom reminds us to honor each life, cherish each memory, and carry hope forward with compassion and renewal."

The Peer Self-Advocacy Program and the California Memorial Project will host its 24th Annual Remembrance Ceremony on Monday, September 21, 2026.

This special gathering is an opportunity to come together in honor, reflection, and hope as we remember and uplift our peers with mental health, intellectual, and developmental disabilities who lived—or currently live—in state institutions and locked facilities. Too often, their lives, voices, experiences, and humanity have gone unseen, unheard, and forgotten.

Not long ago in California, many peers who died in state hospitals and developmental centers were buried in mass or anonymous graves—without names, recognition, or dignity. Their identities were replaced by numbers, as though they had never existed. Today, many peers living in locked facilities and institutions continue to experience isolation, stigma, and barriers to being fully seen, heard, and valued.

The cherry blossom symbolizes the beauty and fragility of life, renewal after hardship, and the importance of remembering those who came before us. Through this year’s theme, Honor • Reflection • Hope, we seek to create space for healing, remembrance, and collective action toward a more compassionate future.

As California continues to face growing reliance on involuntary hospitalization and forced treatment as responses to society’s challenges, it is more important than ever that we gather in solidarity to raise awareness, restore dignity, and advocate for the rights, freedom, and self-determination of all people.

Please join us as we celebrate the strength, resilience, and humanity of our peers and continue advocating for communities where every person is respected, valued, included, and free to live with dignity, choice, and hope.

Our Remembrance Ceremonies will take place on September 21st, 2026, at the following times and locations:

Check back here on September 21, 2026, at 1:00 pm to watch the virtual ceremony.

(ASL Interpreter, Spanish Language Interpreter and Live Captions available)

For more information contact Jenny.Olson@disabilityrightsca.org.

For more information contact Jenny.Olson@disabilityrightsca.org.

Light refreshments will be served after the ceremony.

*Please make sure not to wear any brown or khaki clothing.

Traducción al Español será proveído- 

Favor de no usar ropa color café, kaki o café.

Se proveerá refrigerios ligeros después de la ceremonia. 

For more information contact PSA@disabilityrightsca.org.

Light refreshments will be served after the ceremony.

*Please make sure not to wear any brown or khaki clothing.

*No photos are permitted during the ceremony

For more information contact PSA@disabilityrightsca.org.

Find out more about the
California Memorial Project