In wanting to make disability hate crimes as illegal and unaccepatable as race hate crimes?

[sickofsocalledexperts]

After watching Rosa Monkton's programme last night, on families coping not only with severely disabled children, but also with feral hooligans shouting abuse at them, punching them, throwing bricks through their windows and making their lives a misery - unchecked by police or law - can I ask if mumsnetters would join me in outlawing disablity hate crimes?

Just possibly it might stop another case happening like that poor poor Fiona Pilkington's, where she burned herself and her disabled daughter to death in a car rather than continue to face abuse from unparented, ignorant youths who had been making their lives a misery for years. And then again last week, where a mother of a long-bullied special needs teenager died saving his life from a fire, caused by the bullies putting a firework through her door! And they watched as she burned to death!

Now it is happening again with a bunch of kids making Asher Nardone and her family's life a misery in Poole, Dorset. Whoever is "mothering" the children who daily hurl abuse at Asher's terribly disabled child, and his brother, should be stripped of the title mother. She's just babysitting the next generation of ciminals in my book. Please ask politicians and lawmakers to say no to disablity hate crimes, to offer real penalities for them, and to help protect our most vulnerable members of society from those with least humanity.

Really scary new info out yesterday - one of the big regions did a survey of children with autism, and have discovered that 3 out of every 4 of them have been badly bullied during the last year. As if their lives aren't already exhausting enough...

People with mental health problems are also the target of dreadful neighbourhood harrassment and should be protected by law. Think of how many times we all say words like 'nutter' and 'mentalist' and 'loon'. Most of us don't even think about it and that includes me.

As to disabled children, my son is severely disabled and I worry more for his siblings who have to go through school hearing words like 'retard' and 'spaz' on a daily basis. Meanwhile, racist language is absolutely forbidden. I don't think teachers take it seriously at all. There is a drip drip effect which leads to disabled people being at risk of abuse in society.

Yes, and it is this kind of thing that prevents people with mental health issues getting the help that they need. The stigma that still exists about mental health issues is a huge stumbling block.

Just last week a German footballer took his own life after battling depression for 6 years. The added toll of keeping it from the press must have been awful.

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/discussing-the-disabled-readers--views -1818094.html

Lots of commentary about the use of the word 'retard' etc. So true...

But we still live in a world where disabled people are usually expected to be able to either cope with whatever abuse and negativity that others can cope with, or shove off. That casual "so what" attitude is what leads society to think, "if they complain, they're just being annoying - I could handle that, so why can't they?"

So good to see people really thinking about this and challenging it, here and elsewhere.

Abuse of anyone should be taken seriously and dealt with. I don't see why any group should be treated differently.

If the police or whatever are saying "oh I suppose we better do something about it seeing as the victim is black/disabled/etc then there is something seriously screwed up somewhere"

Onager, the police aren't doing anything about it if people are disabled at all. Nothing whatsoever. The idea that there might be a positive bias is a million miles away from where we are, alas.

(oops - meant Onagar - apologies for misspelling)

I'm so in.

'children with autism, and have discovered that 3 out of every 4 of them have been badly bullied during the last year'

But its so ahrd to get a school to listen- ds1 as some will know came home from school a few eyars ago with shoe shaped cruises after a beating by 12 kids, somehow the school had missed him limping in pain all day.And at the moment his dinner money is vanishing each and every day- school are quick enough to make me pay it again, but refuse to look into where it actually ends up, whcih can nly be in someones pocket I think (my guess is peopleare making him pay for playing with him- happened before).

DS3 was thrown off a eprformance we do last week, minutes after the fellow participants saw him stimming: they've known him for years but it seems that was too much for them, God forbid his disability might become actually visible!

I don't believe abuse against Sn is worse than racism etc, they all have reasons for being vulnerable groups, but it certainly equate, and yet is somehow the last bastion of acceptable bullying (into which I would include MH, as DonkeyDerby says, DH had MH issues for ages and there is so much stigma left)

I saw in the papers only today that 4 little yobs got 18 months for an assualt on a shopkeeper, as the judge called it a "racially aggravated" assualt (the little shits were shouting "paki" as they beat him). All we want, is for the courts to take an equally dim view of the little thugs who were calling Fiona Pilkington's daughter "retard" or "Frankenstein" as they threw bricks through her window, vandalised her car, and assaulted her other child, endlessly over several years. It should be as frowned upon as it is to say "paki" or to call the female CEO of a major company "sweet-tits" in a board meeting. For those who think it is political correctness gone mad, I say just come out and see how bad it is for us mums of SEN kids, with our defenceless (in some cases literally speechless) kids getting bullied at school or on the bus home for being different. We need an OVER-correction the other way, before we can swing back to normal (which is just simple respect for people who have been born different). Onagar, I don't know WHY it is worse that Asher Nardone is abused for having a "retard" or "mong" son as she loads his paraplegic body into her car, but it really is. It's low, despicable bullying of the worst kind, and it needs to end. It's not enough to say that the police should come out for everyone. Of course they should. But that's NOT what's happening. Little shits drove an already desperate woman to take her own and her severely disabled child's life. And then a firework through the door by bullies killed another mother of a learning disabled kid only last week. And Asher Nardone's harassment is going on as we speak. And in each of these cases, NOTHING WAS DONE BY THE POLICE DESPITE ENDLESS REPORTS BY EACH MOTHER OF ABUSE/VANDALISM/INTIMIDATION. We surely owe it to the most vulnerable members of our society to offer them at least equal protection? Some protection? Anything?

I hasn't come across Asher Nardone before, in many ways I wish I had not now becuase her story is horrific.

After coming in from school tonoght, DS1 disappeared off or a bit

Turns out he was talking to childline about the bullies at school

Fecking arse wankers

Heck, Peachy...

Just noticed Radio 1 is having an antibullying week with various newsbeat items about bullying in various areas of life. Wonder if it is worth contacting them?