Figures showing a rise in disability hate crime are truly shocking: 9 out of 10 people with learning disabilities are victims of disability hate crime according to Mencap‘s research. There has been a rise in the number of hate crimes with 1,942 recorded in 2012 – that is a 14% rise since 2010 – according to The Independent. There has also been an increase in the number of violent crimes against disabled people in 2011/2012 – 63% of hate crimes against disabled people were violent according to government statistics.
The Disability Hate Crime Organisation defines disability hate crime as:
A criminal offence that is purely motivated by hatred or prejudice towards a disabled person, whether they actually have a disability or just a perceived one.
In March 2013 the BBC wrote an article that claimed disability hate crimes are “overlooked and under-reported” and that victims are being let down. A high profile story of disability hate crime is the case of Fiona Pilkington, who in 2007 killed her disabled daughter and herself – due to her daughter’s persistent victimisation because of her disability and repeated reports to the police about her being harassed by youths.
After this incident a review was carried out into how the police deal with disability hate crimes and what more can be done to prevent situations like this occurring again.
This report found that many police forces don’t have available support for victims of disability hate crimes and that prosecutors were unclear when identifying disability hate crimes and so couldn’t gather significant evidence. The report also found that a lack of communication between institutions lead to confusion about how these crimes are dealt with.
So what is considered a disability hate crime?
Just like any other type of prejudice, disability hate crime can include name calling, being sent nasty messages, having your money taken or any kind of physical abuse including sexual abuse. Also vandalising property, threatening or intimidating someone who is disabled.
Mencap have people’s harrowing real stories of disability hate crime on their website. Here’s an extract of one of them:
“For 20 years, I have lived in fear of hate crime. Just because they see me as ‘different’, kids have spat at me, pushed and shoved me in the street. I have had knives thrown at me, I have been punched, had my house broken into and my life taken apart. Throughout this time, I have begged the police to do something to make the abuse stop. But they have told me to ignore it, or avoid the criminals who seem to always be there.”
There is unfortunately no guaranteed way of avoiding becoming a victim of a hate crime but things that help prevent it are, for example, looking confident – so if you are unsure of an area you are going to visit then it might be a good idea not to go alone, so you look more comfortable in your surroundings. Other ways of avoiding hate crime are as simple as not going out after dark or approaching people who in the past may have been abusive – a lot of it seems to be common sense as there is no real other way to avoid it, just like many other crimes.
If you are ever a victim of this type of hate crime Mencap advise telling people around you, including family, friends, carers and/or teachers and also the police. Keeping a note of when any of these events occur would be helpful if you’re going to go to the police as it would provide them with some evidence that the crimes have taken place. Mencap also suggest that any letters, texts or other malicious communications should be kept as evidence of the hate crime and will also assist in prosecuting people (if it came to that).
Hate crime of all forms is a despicable act and we feel so awful for anyone who has been affected by it. But we feel that we should do our bit to raise awareness of this issue at present and hopefully in the future it can be a thing of the past.