Help us stamp out hate crime

Disability Now is poised to launch a major new campaign, as evidence mounts of hate crime against disabled people.

Craig Robins, a disabled man from Staffordshire, was brutally attacked in October last year by three men: James Milligan, Gavin Brown and Kyle Smith. They, and a 16-year-old boy, left Mr Robins in a coma for nearly a year. He has been left brain-damaged. Three of his attackers were jailed.

In July this year, a disabled woman was tipped out of her wheelchair by two drunken men in Worcester. Police are investigating.

A Disability Now reader contacted us, saying that neighbours were waging a campaign against her and her husband, both of whom are disabled. She says that the police have told her it is just a dispute between neighbours, despite her argument that it is an ongoing hate crime.

These cases, and the others we have covered in the last few months, have led to much discussion at Disability Now. We intend to launch a campaign, within the next month or two, to raise awareness of these horrific crimes. We hope to work with a range of organisations.

We want to press for change on all levels. Firstly, we want the criminal justice system to treat disability hate crime far more seriously. We want the police to flag up and investigate potential cases more rigorously. We want prosecutors to push the police on evidencegathering. We want judges to look at whether hostility towards a disabled victim was a factor in the crime – and pass an appropriate sentence. Secondly, we want the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office to send a strong signal to all parts of the system that such crimes must not be ignored. Thirdly, we want to challenge the attitudes of those who verbally abuse, physically abuse, or financially abuse disabled people. Often, police say, verbal hostility or financial abuse can escalate into physical abuse – as we found when we investigated the cases of Raymond Atherton, Steven Hoskin, Kevin Davies and Barrie- John Horrell.

But we need your help. What should be our aims? And please keep the cases coming. We are building up a dossier of cases that we feel have not been properly investigated or prosecuted. The more evidence we have, the stronger the campaign.