United Campaign on Disability Hate Crime

19/06/2012

Young people, the Metropolitan Police and Ministers have announced they will be joining forces to help tackle disability hate crime.

The announcement comes following an investigation into the issue by the Trailblazers group earlier this year.  The investigation revealed that three out of five young disabled people have been a victim of disability hate crime but fail to report it because they fear they will not be taken seriously.

The campaign to tackle the issue has been led by Krishna Talsania, 29, who has a muscle-wasting condition and experienced abuse first hand when she was surrounded, spat on and verbally abused after using a disabled vehicle parking space.

Understanding

The Trailblazers group, made up of over 400 18-30 year-olds from across the UK, will hold talks with senior police officials, MP’s Maria Miller and Lynne Featherstone and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. 

Trailblazers hope that a nation-wide police initiative can be set up to encourage disabled people to report intimidation and to address “inconsistent, inefficient and outdated” systems for recording hate crime.

Krishna commented: “As a disabled person, working to make sure communities come together is particularly important to me as this is the very essence of making a difference in society where issues such as hate crime affect people.

"Working with the community as a whole creates unity and increases understanding of the issues affecting disabled people.”