National Hate Crime Awareness Week: focusing on disability
The Royal Borough of Greenwich is spreading awareness of disability hate crime during National Hate Crime Awareness Week, taking place Saturday 11 to Saturday 18 October.
A hate crime is when someone is hostile to another person because of one or more actual or perceived characteristics. The law recognises five different types of hate crime which are disability, race, religion, sexual orientation, or transgender identity.
The theme this year is disability hate crime. Last year, there were 25 incidents of reported disability hate crime in the borough, however, it's possible many more went unreported. Underreporting could be due to psychological and emotional barriers, such as fear of not being believed or reporting systems that are inaccessible for victims with certain conditions.
Hate crimes are not only an attack on an individual, but an attack on a whole community, causing fear and anxiety and a sense of not belonging. Many victims of disability hate crime have existing physical or mental health conditions that are worsened following a hate crime incident. It can also take a vulnerable person longer to recover from an incident.
Mate crime is a unique form of abuse where perpetrators pose as friends to take advantage and abuse disabled people; this often goes unnoticed or unreported. Some charities warn that the risk is increasing as the internet is being used more as a tool for grooming and exploiting vulnerable people.
Cllr Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Enforcement, said:
“It’s important to spread awareness of hate crime and the support available not only during National Hate Crime Awareness Week but all year round. Hate crime is a community safety priority and we do lots of work to reduce hate crime; by providing specialised training to our frontline staff, informing businesses and local organisations of how people can report hate crime, holding a high harm case panel to assist with hate-crime related cases in the borough, and raising awareness at community events.
“We also promote the Neighbourhood Watch’s Hate Crime Ambassadors, who work within the community to support victims of hate crime.”
How to report it
If you have experienced or witnessed hate crime - please report it. You can do this by calling the police on 999 in an emergency or 101 in a non-emergency. For advice and support contact the Stop Hate UK 24-hour hotline on 0800 138 1625.
More hate crime help and support.
Events
Get involved this National Hate Crime Awareness Week and learn more about hate crime and how we can all take action to stop it.
Community safety event and workshop, exploring disability hate crime
Monday 13 October, 11am to 4pm, Kidbrooke Community Hub (8 Pegler Square, SE3 9GR)
This includes three inclusive workshops - Connecting with Everyone - Inclusive Communication, Active Bystander workshop: Hate Crime and Discrimination, and creating a communication leaflet.
Join us and Remark for an inclusive lunch to discuss safety, support, and inclusion for the deaf community
Monday 20 October, 11am to 2pm, Progress Community Hall (Admiral Seymour Road, Eltham, SE9 1SN)