‘Hate Crime’: Violence against women and girls with
disabilities
Gendered people; Gendered Acts
ANSWERS
1. Nearly 1 in 5 disabled people were victims of crime in England and Wales in
2011
TRUE
o If you, or anyone else, thinks something bad has happened to you
because of your disability, it could be a hate crime.
o 1.9 million disabled people in Britain in 2011 were victims of crime.
o That is 19% of disabled people in England and Wales and 17% of disabled
people in Scotland.
2. Usually people who commit hate crime against disabled people are
strangers.
FALSE
o Hate crime can be committed by strangers and also friends, neighbours,
care workers and family.
o This is also known as ‘mate crime’.
3. Hate crime is usually people with disabilities getting hit or having their
things taken.
FALSE
o Hate crime against disabled people happens in many different ways.
o It can include violence, sexual abuse, theft, or bullying, but also many
other types of crimes.
o There are more different types of disability hate crime than any crimes
against any other group.
4. Disabled young people are more likely to get bullied than non-disabled
young people
TRUE
o In 2011, more than 4/5 16 year olds with SEN said they had been bullied.
o 2/3 non-disabled young people said they had been bullied.
5. Most people who commit disability hate crime are white men aged 40-50
years old
FALSE
o People who commit hate crime include men and women; younger and
older people; black and white people; richer and poorer people; care
workers and other people.
o People commit hate crime alone or in groups
o You cannot tell who might commit hate crime by looking at them.
6. People do bad things to disabled people because they hate disabled people.
FALSE
o People might do bad things to disabled people because they think they
are easier to get at, or because they think they will get away with it.
o They might even be a family member or a friend and be nice to the
person a lot of the time.
o People might do bad things to disabled people because of their disability,
but also because of their race, religion, gender, age or sexual
orientation – these are other types of hate crimes.
7. If a disabled person gets murdered, there has to be a ‘serious case review’.
FALSE
o A serious case review is when different professionals work together to
understand what happened to the person, to see what they can learn
and to stop it happening again.
o When a child dies of unknown causes, neglect or abuse, there has to be a
serious case review.
o When a disabled person is murdered or seriously hurt, professionals can
decide if they want to have a serious case review or not.
8. Disability hate crime only happens to disabled people
FALSE
o Disability hate crime can happen to support workers, friends, family,
guide dogs, and equipment, because they are connected to the
disabled person.
9. Disabled people always report abuse when it happens
FALSE
o Disabled people often don’t report what happens to them.
o The person might be scared, or think no one will believe them, or the
person might not know who to tell.
o The person might not want to get their friend in trouble.
o The person might not even realize that what has happened is a crime.
10. If a person goes to the police, then the police will prosecute and the
person who did it will go to court
FALSE
o Many hate-crime reports which go to the police don’t end up in a full
court case.
o The victim might change their mind, not turn up in court to say what
happened or might not give enough evidence.
o This has gone up in the last year from about 20% to nearly 25%
11. If a woman who is a wheelchair user is raped, this is recorded as both
‘violence against women’ and ‘disability-related harassment’
FALSE
o Rape and sexual assault against disabled women is usually recorded
only as ‘violence against women’ not ‘violence against women and
disability-related harassment’
o Mental health and learning difficulties are ‘frequently identified
vulnerabilities’ in gender-based crime recording, but rarely recorded as
‘disability-related harassment’
o The vulnerabilities of mental health and learning disabilities do not
tend to be on the radar of people managing ‘violence against women’
programmes
12. Racist and homophobic crime disproportionally affects disabled people
TRUE
o Metropolitan Police data on victims of racist and homophobic hate
crime shows that a disproportionate number of victims were also
disabled.
o Many cases are recorded only as race or sexuality based crime, not
disability related harassment
o People identify a ‘double disadvantage’ in relation to harassment, with
harassment within their own community often based on their disability,
and in wider society based on their disability and/or other
characteristics such as race, gender or sexuality.
Reference:
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/disabilityfi/ehrc_hidde
n_in_plain_sight_3.pdf