America's hate crime odyssey

America’s hate crime odyssey

Awareness of hate crimes against disabled people in the United States is increasing, but more still needs to be done, says Dr Mark Sherry

A disability hate crime is a crime in which the perpetrators specifically target a person, in whole or in part, because they are disabled. Internationally, there has been a huge increase in awareness over the last few years, and many legislatures are introducing hate crime laws.

One of the most important examples of this trend has been the introduction of hate crime legislation in the United States. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 was passed in the Senate on 27 September, although President George Bush has threatened to veto the bill.

This law extends hate crime legislation to include disability hate crimes, as well as hate crimes based on gender, gender identity and sexual orientation.

Many disability groups regard the introduction of hate crime legislation as an important step in protecting the rights of disabled people, alongside other changes such as disability awareness and anti-stigma campaigns.

In the US, there have been many highly publicised disability hate crimes in recent years. In one case, in February 2007, Ronald Bray, from California, was sentenced to 32 months in prison because he spat upon a man in a wheelchair who was outside a 7-Eleven store, pushed the man’s wheelchair into a lightpost, racially vilified the victim and raised his arm in a Nazi salute.

Another case in Minneapolis in October 2006 saw a double-amputee wheelchair-user repeatedly beaten with a tyre iron. 

Many disability hate crimes involve multiple forms of prejudice – the crime committed by Bray demonstrated that they may also involve racist prejudice, but the crime against another disabled person (this time in New Mexico) demonstrates that sexual orientation, as well as disability, can lead to victimisation. 

In September 2006, a transgender disabled man who has been given the pseudonym “Elliot” was allegedly raped in a barbershop. The barber called Elliot a “retard”, “bitch” and “faggot”, while he allegedly held a razor to his throat.

Most disability hate crimes do not involve murder or violent crime. Typically, they involve some degree of harassment. For instance, in September 2006, two juveniles aged 12 and 14 in Shirley, Suffolk (in the US), spray-painted swastikas on the house of a neighbour, who had multiple sclerosis. They were charged with first-degree aggravated assault as a hate crime.

Another common form of disability hate crime involves theft. Such was the case with Katholeen Todder, of Madison, Wisconsin, who was charged with stealing more than $25,000 of antiques from a dying disabled woman.

More and more countries are recognizing that harassment, prejudice, violence and intimidation against disabled people is a serious problem which needs to be immediately addressed. Part of that project must involve getting an accurate estimation of the size of the problem. 

The author’s research at the University of California at Berkeley indicated that there were serious problems with under-reporting of disability hate crimes. Part of this problem is a misunder­standing of what a “hate crime” is. For instance, the author interviewed one young woman who used a prosthetic leg. Her house had been burgled twice, and the prosthetic leg was the only thing taken on both occasions. She had reported it to the police, who had some suspects, but the incident was regarded as a “prank” more than a hate crime. And yet the characteristics of this crime – repeatedly targeting the woman’s disability, clearly fits the definition of a disability hate crime.

Neither the victim nor the police seemed to understand this – suggesting that there is still a great deal of work to be done in raising awareness of the problem.

• Dr Mark Sherry is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Toledo in Ohio. He is an Australian, currently living in the US, and is writing a book on disability hate crimes. He is a brain injury survivor

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Among the demands made by the protesters last month were better access to buildings, measures to prevent pavements being blocked by parked cars
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The BBC4 documentary, Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children, sparked fierce debate in the country, although it has not yet been aired on Bulgarian television.

The decision to close the home in the village of Mogilino followed a visit by three Bulgarian government ministers.

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