In recent months, a series of deeply disturbing stories have hit the media. In each case, a vulnerable and lonely person is befriended and exploited by a group of people who proceed to torture him to death. The common feature of these horrific crimes was that the victim was disabled.
A policeman on guard at a crime scene
I admit, I was sceptical about the concept of hate crime against disabled people when it first began to be discussed a few years back. The research evidence was very scant, and I felt that the term “hate crime” was over-dramatic and risked creating unnecessary fear among disabled people. While black and ethnic minority people have always been vulnerable to racist abuse, and gay and lesbian people often the victims of homophobic treatment, it seemed to me that hatred of disabled people was a rare phenomenon. Disabled people will often be more vulnerable to crime, but this is usually impairment creating vulnerability and hence opportunity, rather than ‘disablism’ as the main motivation.
I still think we need to be cautious about exaggerating the situation. Actual violence, let alone murder, remains rare. The growing profile of attacks against disabled people may be more about the way these stories are reported in the media, or the increasing willingness of disabled people to report crimes carried out against them, rather than about any actual rise in the figures for such incidents.
However, perhaps something less dramatic, but more disturbing is going on. Over recent decades, society has become more individualist. Old values such as respect, deference and politeness have been eroded. People have more freedom, and feel less inhibited. Many people feel that they have a right to express any views they want, or make fun of anyone they want, perhaps emboldened by the way that the media and comedians make personal comments about celebrities or ridicule those who are eccentric or different. At the same time, we are less inclined to intervene when we see people being picked on or abused by others: it’s not our business, and we don’t want to become victims ourselves.
Another contemporary trend is the polarisation of society. All the research evidence shows that Britain is becoming more unequal. While many have seen their income and opportunities improve, others are stuck on welfare benefits or in dead-end jobs, unable to afford the consumer products and glamorous lifestyles which they see on TV or in the papers. Many young people in particular are alienated and excluded. Often, society’s ‘rejects’ resort to drink or drugs, making their behaviour even less restrained.
Police sign on top of a patrol vehicle
Perhaps these social and economic factors explain the current situation, where there is a small section of the population who take out their frustrations and resentments on the most vulnerable people in our society: disabled people, older people, and those from minority backgrounds. People who look visibly different, or who are struggling to live independently, are easy prey for this anti-social behaviour.
If this analysis is right, then I think we already have a good term for what’s going: bullying. In school, in the street and in the workplace, people who do not feel good about themselves can make themselves feel better by picking on someone else – someone who is a little odd or unusual, who is isolated already, or does not conform to the prevailing social norms.
Bullying is not rare at all, as all the evidence proves. It was a theme of the research my group did with disabled children in the 1990s. It was a theme of the research we have done with restricted growth people since 2004. And bullying is reported over and over again in studies of many different groups of disabled people.
On two occasions this year, I have personally experienced very nasty incidents which left me shaken and unhappy. Each time, a group of teenagers chased after me, and surrounded me, mocking me, making personal comments and taking photographs on their camera phones. I am not claiming to have been the victim of hate crime, and no physical violence was involved. But the experiences were very distressing, and made me feel powerless and unsafe. As a result, I feel more anxious using public transport, where these incidents occurred, and less likely to use it in future. I am used to being stared and laughed at, but these bullying incidents were a new and nasty phenomenon.
Hate crime, rare as it is, should perhaps be regarded as the tip of the iceberg. Of equal concern is the widespread experience of bullying and social exclusion which is usually unreported, but which makes many disabled people feel unsafe and unhappy. We need a culture of zero tolerance against abuse of disabled people in any form, and we need to take collective responsibility for inclusion. Of course, the police should take hate crime against disabled people more seriously. But parents, teachers, employers and even passers-by have a role to play too. Bullying is ubiquitous and it is getting worse. We need to stop it now.
Tom is a Research Fellow at Newcastle University. His non-fiction books include Genetics Politics: from Eugenics to Genome and The Sexual Politics of Disability.
In recent months, a series of deeply disturbing stories have hit the media. In each case, a vulnerable and lonely person is befriended and exploited by a group of people who proceed to torture him to death. The common feature of these horrific crimes was that the victim was disabled.
A policeman on guard at a crime scene
I admit, I was sceptical about the concept of hate crime against disabled people when it first began to be discussed a few years back. The research evidence was very scant, and I felt that the term “hate crime” was over-dramatic and risked creating unnecessary fear among disabled people. While black and ethnic minority people have always been vulnerable to racist abuse, and gay and lesbian people often the victims of homophobic treatment, it seemed to me that hatred of disabled people was a rare phenomenon. Disabled people will often be more vulnerable to crime, but this is usually impairment creating vulnerability and hence opportunity, rather than ‘disablism’ as the main motivation.
I still think we need to be cautious about exaggerating the situation. Actual violence, let alone murder, remains rare. The growing profile of attacks against disabled people may be more about the way these stories are reported in the media, or the increasing willingness of disabled people to report crimes carried out against them, rather than about any actual rise in the figures for such incidents.
However, perhaps something less dramatic, but more disturbing is going on. Over recent decades, society has become more individualist. Old values such as respect, deference and politeness have been eroded. People have more freedom, and feel less inhibited. Many people feel that they have a right to express any views they want, or make fun of anyone they want, perhaps emboldened by the way that the media and comedians make personal comments about celebrities or ridicule those who are eccentric or different. At the same time, we are less inclined to intervene when we see people being picked on or abused by others: it’s not our business, and we don’t want to become victims ourselves.
Another contemporary trend is the polarisation of society. All the research evidence shows that Britain is becoming more unequal. While many have seen their income and opportunities improve, others are stuck on welfare benefits or in dead-end jobs, unable to afford the consumer products and glamorous lifestyles which they see on TV or in the papers. Many young people in particular are alienated and excluded. Often, society’s ‘rejects’ resort to drink or drugs, making their behaviour even less restrained.
Police sign on top of a patrol vehicle
Perhaps these social and economic factors explain the current situation, where there is a small section of the population who take out their frustrations and resentments on the most vulnerable people in our society: disabled people, older people, and those from minority backgrounds. People who look visibly different, or who are struggling to live independently, are easy prey for this anti-social behaviour.
If this analysis is right, then I think we already have a good term for what’s going: bullying. In school, in the street and in the workplace, people who do not feel good about themselves can make themselves feel better by picking on someone else – someone who is a little odd or unusual, who is isolated already, or does not conform to the prevailing social norms.
Bullying is not rare at all, as all the evidence proves. It was a theme of the research my group did with disabled children in the 1990s. It was a theme of the research we have done with restricted growth people since 2004. And bullying is reported over and over again in studies of many different groups of disabled people.
On two occasions this year, I have personally experienced very nasty incidents which left me shaken and unhappy. Each time, a group of teenagers chased after me, and surrounded me, mocking me, making personal comments and taking photographs on their camera phones. I am not claiming to have been the victim of hate crime, and no physical violence was involved. But the experiences were very distressing, and made me feel powerless and unsafe. As a result, I feel more anxious using public transport, where these incidents occurred, and less likely to use it in future. I am used to being stared and laughed at, but these bullying incidents were a new and nasty phenomenon.
Hate crime, rare as it is, should perhaps be regarded as the tip of the iceberg. Of equal concern is the widespread experience of bullying and social exclusion which is usually unreported, but which makes many disabled people feel unsafe and unhappy. We need a culture of zero tolerance against abuse of disabled people in any form, and we need to take collective responsibility for inclusion. Of course, the police should take hate crime against disabled people more seriously. But parents, teachers, employers and even passers-by have a role to play too. Bullying is ubiquitous and it is getting worse. We need to stop it now.
Tom is a Research Fellow at Newcastle University. His non-fiction books include Genetics Politics: from Eugenics to Genome and The Sexual Politics of Disability.