Disability hate crime report now out

[amberlight]

www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publicationsandresources/Documents/Disability/Disabled_peoples_experi encesviolence21.pdf

Really interesting stuff for any disabled person, and very good news that the report is out and that people in power are starting to think about the issues.

At present, hardly any disabled people are able to access justice for disability hate crime. Less than 200 reported successes in courts for the whole of last year on the latest figures, even though there are 6 million of us, and up to 80% of us are victims of related hate crime (depending on the disability we have).

Useful reading if people want to know more about how the government and police are tackling things, since 'lack of awareness of our own rights' is one of the biggest limiting factors, it says.

What is a disability hate crime? People may think it's calling someone with a disability a really rude name, or hitting them. But its actual definition is that there has to be disability-related hostility, which also may be described as obvious unfriendliness or antagonism because of the disability or the behaviour directly caused by it.

(Antagonism = trying to 'wind someone up' knowing that because of their disability they'll react a certain way to it, in order to mock them or cause them distress).

".............(Antagonism = trying to 'wind someone up' knowing that because of their disability they'll react a certain way to it, in order to mock them or cause them distress).........."

Hmmm...would this apply to schools???

MsF, yes, it would. Or a child or adult being bullied in the streets etc. At the moment there's so very little done to help anyone with a disability who is living in fear of people, but the police are keen to do far more now. (Not least because of the figures from the crime report for last year that showed some 10,000 race hatred cases being taken to court, but less than 200 disability hate cases. )

Seems social services were originally left "in charge" of keeping anyone with a disability safe. How on earth were they supposed to do that? They can't monitor people's lives 24/7, even with the best will in the world. So the police thought they had no responsibility to take action, it seems, because it was social service's job to solve it all (somehow). And social services were telling many disabled people to just ignore it, or moving them away from the troublemakers, no doubt meaning well. and were not reporting things to the police, because they thought it was their job to solve it, not the police's job.

Meantime, the courts were deciding that many (not all) disabled people were unreliable witnesses, e.g. the blind lady asked if she could identify her attacker (!) or people with a LD asked questions in a way they couldn't answer. It's an interesting one, because no way could I cope with giving evidence against someone in a court case unless I have the right help.

They're realising they'd created the perfect system for almost anyone to say and do anything they like to us and get away with it, no matter what the effect on disabled people. So very pleased that action is now being taken.

thanks amber.

it's just when i read your first post...it made me think of ds2 straight away.

all the teachers say at the moment regarding his being tormented/bullied....
is that he 'brings it on himself' ...however...'his behaviour' that attracts the unwelcome and cruel attention of others is often a result of triggers...such as change of routine or supply teachers.

the way i describe ds2 now is

He's a 12 yr old boy... behaving & feeling emotionally like a 6 yr old....but with the achademic abilities of a 15yr old.

so he is constantly ridiculed and provoked...as it is guaranteed he will react...and it doesn't matter how often we try to explain to him that his reaction is what they are after...he cannot ignore. (as we know it is not simply a case of teaching him to ignore)

Ah yes, that's definitely what the government define as 'disability hate crime' if the children know that ds has this disability and reacts in this way because of the disability, and are doing it to cause him distress. The teachers need to be aware that it's against the law. I'm not a lawyer, but that's certainly the information we've all been given on this now.