Disability Hate Crime
We need your help to support people affected by Disability Hate Crimes
Here at Stop Hate we are committed to supporting the disabled community in fighting against all types of disability hate.
Disabled people face exacerbated difficulties in an already inaccessible world
Society presents significant challenges for people with disabilities and this can have an effect in every area of their life; including inaccessible housing, transport and all around infrastructure, and inaccessible information, which affects their standard of living, social protection, ability to live independently and be part of the larger community they reside in.
In the year 2021/2022, over 14,242 disability hate crimes were reported to the police across England and Wales. (Home Office)
While reporting Disability Hate Crime is significantly underreported to the police, according to the CPS, disabled people prefer to report incidents to third party services such as helplines and charities rather than to the police.
Disability-motivated Hate Crime is the second-highest motivation for reporting Hate Crime to our 24 hour Stop Hate Helpline.
Most incidents and crimes include verbal and physical abuse, and threatening behaviours, such as attacks on assistance dogs, threats of physical attack, offensive name-calling or being refused service by businesses. Mate crime also highlights the impact of false befriending those who are perceived to be vulnerable, for the purpose of taking advantage and abusing those with learning disabilities, learning difficulty, or mental health conditions.
We are working hard to encourage reporting of Disability Hate Crime. The disabled community feel forgotten and more vulnerable to discrimination and hate than ever. No one should have to feel so isolated and forgotten. Our 24 hour Stop Hate Line provides critical emotional support and advocacy service in times like this.
How We Support People Affected by Hate Against the Disabled Community
A huge part of our work is to deal directly with victims of Hate Crime and to help them cope with the incident and navigate their options.
Stop Hate UK’s 24hrs helpline service provides 100% confidentiality and independent support. We provide advocacy support and independent advice.
Our callers have the autonomy to choose their way to deal with their experience. We provide our callers a safe space to tell us about their experiences and help explain the options available and provide free, independent advice. Nothing is ever too small to report to our team. We acknowledge that it can be a build up of incidents that lead to Hate Crime, and that’s why we are always on hand to listen and provide ongoing support when making a report.
Stories from callers
A caller’s young child was discriminated against because of his learning disability and refused entry into a business.
Stop Hate UK contacted the business on the parent’s behalf and followed up with the caller each week to offer support throughout the complaints process. Our helpline team also gave further amendments, feedback and advice on the parent's complaint letter to the business.
The caller was grateful for the service Stop Hate UK provided as we understood that it is not always easy to find the time to follow up complaints when callers have children with disabilities.
Caller contacted Stop Hate Line for advice as she had discovered that ‘friends’ of her family members were making abusive comments about someone in the family behind their back because of their disability. The people passing the comments were considered to be life long friends.
Our helpline team listened carefully and was able to discuss different options with the caller, providing confirmation that this behaviour was unacceptable and possibly unlawful and provided potential methods to tackle the persons responsible.
Our work in educating communities to combat Disability Hate Crime and Discrimination
Apart from providing immediate and live support through our 24hrs Stop Hate Line, we drive change through education and communications that aim to tackle the root causes of Hate Crimes against disabled people. Disability Hate Crimes are severely underreported and raising awareness about it is crucial within and outside the disabled community.
We work strategically with a number of organisations for disabled people and are regularly in conversation with disabled people to highlight their voices, ensuring their experiences, concerns and perspectives are centred in our work to tackle disability Hate Crime.
We provide schools, communities, and businesses with bespoke training programmes that raise awareness and understanding on Disability Hate Crimes. We have developed specific training around Disability Hate Crimes which we recently carried out with the Metropolitan Police. The training programmes we develop on Disability Hate Crime is informed by our regular consultation with organisations and input from the disabled community.
We are committed to ensuring our training and services are accessible and that we provide any adjustments where needed. For example, our Hate Crime reporting services has a text relay and BSL service on the 24hr helpline so that anyone with hearing or speech difficulties is able to use our helpline.
Why Support Us
Tens of thousands are victims of Hate Crimes each year – but the effects go even wider. Being targeted by Hate Crime can not only result in physical harm but can also affect a person’s mental health and wellbeing.
Disability Hate and Ableism is one of the least reported forms of Hate Incidents and Crimes in the UK. With your collective support we can normalise and ensure that no one suffers alone when they experience or witness a Hate crime.