Stopping the harassment of Disabled People
A toolkit for Disabled People’s Organisations and organisations that support Disabled People
Revised September 2015
Introduction to the toolkit
A note about language
Part 1
The ugly truth about disability-related harassment
What is disability related harassment?
Same damaging impact, different name
What does the law say about disability-related harassment?
What is the extent of disability related harassment?
Where does disability related harassment happen?
What does disability-related harassment look like and how does it feel?
Part 2
A Guide to reporting disability related harassment
Why reporting disability-related harassment is so important
Reporting an incident to the police
Checklist of things to remember when reporting disability-related harassment
What support do people who have experienced disability-related harassment require?
Support to report
Disabled People’s Organisations have an important role to play in supporting people to report disability-related harassment to the police and other organisations. This might include:
Support to access advocacy services
Part 3
What can you do to raise tackle disability-related harassment in your area?
Who should you try to influence and how?
Messages to get across
Developing your messages
Gathering evidence
How to get your messages out there
Using the media to raise awareness & campaign
Template format of a press release
Planning a campaign
Engaging local elected representatives
Engaging with local authorities and police
Becoming a Third Party Reporting Centre
Other things you can do to influence change
Acknowledgements
Introduction to the toolkit
Disabled people and their organisations have a long tradition of campaigning successfully to raise awareness of disability as an equality and human rights issue and challenging discrimination.
This toolkit is intended to support Disabled People’s Organisations and other organisations that support disabled people to build on this legacy and to challenge disability-related harassment so that:
- Disabled people are confident to report harassment wherever it occurs.
- Councils, police, health boards and others improve their responses to disability-related harassment and take reports seriously.
- People who commit these crimes do not continue to believe that they will get away with it.
The toolkit was originally developed by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission with Disabled People’s Organisations and other partner organisations. This toolkit is based on that original toolkit and has been revised by Inclusion Scotland, with input from a range of other organisations, listed on the final page.
Inclusion Scotland is a network of disabled people, their organisations and allies. Inclusion Scotland works to promote disabled people’s rights, choices and voices, as full and equal citizens.
The toolkit has 3 parts:
Part 1Information about and evidence of disability related harassment. This information can be used to raise awareness of the nature and extent of disability related harassment and inform disabled people of their rights not to be harassed.
Part 2Information for disabled people on how and where to report harassment and why reporting is so important. It also considers what support disabled people who have experienced disability related harassment require.
Part 3 Ideas to help organisations to get the message out about disability related harassment. It includes ideas of who to talk to, what to say, who can help and some examples of activities and campaigns in different parts of Scotland.
A note about language
The definition of disability-related harassment includes bullying, anti-social behaviour, hate incidents and hate crime on the basis of disability.
Part 1
The ugly truth about disability-related harassment
What is disabilityrelated harassment?
The definition of disability-related harassment covers a wide range of actions and crimes, including verbal abuse, financial exploitation, theft, and damage to property through to sexual assault, rape and murder. It can include harassment of disabled people, their friends and family and of peopleperceived to be disabled.
Same damaging impact, different name
There are lots of ways to describe disability related harassment.
Hate crime
Bullying
Anti-social behaviour
Identity based violence
Hate incident
Abuse
Verbal Abuse
Mate crime
What does the law say about disability-related harassment?
There is arange of legislation and international agreements that the UK have signed up to which protectdisabled people from harassment.
The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)
The PSED is an important piece of legislation which places an active duty on public bodies to consider how they can positively contribute to a more equal society and embed equality in their day-to-day business.The duty requires public bodies to give due regard to taking action to prevent discrimination, advance equality and foster good relations between different people.
The public sector duty is in two parts – the general duty and the specific duties. Scottish public bodies that are listed in the Scottish regulations must carry out the Scottish specific duties. The EHRC have published a list of public bodies covered by the Scottish specific duties:
The types of activities that Scottish listed public bodies must carry out to meet the specific duty include:
- Report progress on mainstreaming the general equality duty
- Publish equality outcomes and report progress
- Assess and review policies and practices
- Review existing policies and practices.
Further information about the Public Sector Equality Duty can be found
Offences (Aggravated by Prejudice) (Scotland) Act 2009
This Act created a statutory aggravation for crimes motivated by malice and ill will towards an individual based on their sexual orientation, transgender identity or impairment. Where an offence is proven in court to be the result of malice or ill-will towards a disabled person, the court must take that into account when determining sentence. This can lead to a longer custodial sentence or higher fine or a different type of disposal.
Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act2007
This law is intended to support public authorities to identify ‘adults at risk’, to provide support to them when they need it, and to provide the means to protect them from harm.
It provides authorities with powers to investigate and take action to support and protect an adult in situations where there is concern. It also created the establishment of multi – agency adult protection committees and placed a duty on Councils to make inquiries and investigations tofind outwhether or not further action is required to stop or prevent harm occurring and introduced a range of protection orders including assessment orders, removal orders and banning orders.
The Human Rights Act 1998
The Human Rights Act 1998 made the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights enforceable in Scottish courts. As a result, individuals can take human rights cases in domestic courts rather than the European Court of Human Rights. All public bodies must ensure that everything they do is compatible with European Convention rights unless an Act of Parliament prevents them from doing so.
These rights include; the right to life, to live free from torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, to feel safe and secure, to have respect for family and private life.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People
The Convention is an international human rights agreement that sets out how disabled people have the same rights as everyone else to individual autonomy including the freedom to make choices, and to have independence.
The Convention is not just a paper ‘declaration’ without any teeth. It requires the government to take action to remove barriers and givedisabled peoplereal freedom, dignity and equality. It can be used in lots of different ways to make sure disabled people’s rights are respected. Some of the most crucial articles when challenging disability- harassment include:
Article 13
Access to justice
States Parties shall ensure effective access to justice for disabled people on an equal basis with others, including through the provision ofprocedural and age-appropriate accommodations, in order to facilitate theireffective role as direct and indirect participants, including as witnesses, in alllegal proceedings, including at investigative and other preliminary stages.
In order to help to ensure effective access to justice for disabled people, States Parties shall promote appropriate training for those workingin the field of administration of justice, including police and prison staff.
Article 15
Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his orher free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.
Article 17
Protecting the integrity of the person
Every disabled person has a right to respect for his or her
physical and mental integrity on an equal basis with others.
For further information visit the EHRC website:
What is the extent of disability related harassment?
Inquiry into disabilityrelated harassment: ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’
In June 2010 the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched an Inquiry into harassment and crime targeting disabled people. The Inquiry’s report, Hidden in Plain Sight, was published in September 2011. The Inquiry found that:
- Around 1.9 million disabled people across Scotland, England and Wales were victims of crime in 2009/10
- Disabled people are more likely to be victims of crime than non disabled people.
- Disabled people’s experience of harassment was widespread and that it can happen in many different settings, including in the home, on public transport and in public places.
- People who commit crimes can be strangers but might also be friends, partners or family members.
- The cases that go to court and are reported by the TV and newspapers are only the tip of the iceberg. What doesn’t hit the headlines is the widespread low level harassment that many disabled people reported to the Inquiry.
Scope is an organisation which aims to improve people’s wrong attitudes to disabled people. Scope foundthat 50% of disabled people reported an increase in hostile attitudes towards them in 2011-2012.(
The number of people reporting disability hate crime is going up. That is encouraging if it means more people are reporting Hate Crime. In June 2015, the Scottish Government repeated its commitment to tackle hate Crime in Scotland. However, they also said that “hate crimes committed against disabled people are widely believed to be underreported and the statistics remain low for disability in comparison to other characteristics.”
Where does disability related harassment happen?
Disability-related harassment can happen in a wide variety of settings.
- When a person is out and about, on the high street, in a park or using public transport
- When a person is close to home, at the corner shop or on their street
- When a person is in their home, at school or work.
What does disability-related harassment look like and how does it feel?
The impact of disability-related harassment
A 46-year-old woman who has a long-term health condition and uses a wheelchair speaks about her experiences of harassment.
She says harassment has left her reluctant to leave her home on her own. She rarely socialises in pubs, restaurants, or other public places. ‘I avoid going into the centre [of town] as I feel vulnerable – it’s not a pleasure any more. ‘I tend not to go out socially. When I’m out I seem to spend my time apologising or slowing people down. It has knocked my confidence – it makes me feel worthless. ‘I used to go to the cinema on my own, but I don’t anymore – it’s simply not worth the hassle. ‘I still have some good friends, but it means my social circle has shrunk.’
She says that, although some people are very helpful, others make thoughtless comments on a day-to-day basis. ‘It can be little things, like rolling of eyes. You get groups of youths and sometimes one will make a comment and the rest will laugh. ‘I’ve had someone pat me on the head and say “she’s put make-up on, how sweet”.
People assume that because I’m in a wheelchair I don’t have a brain.’ She is a qualified occupational health nurse with a science degree and an MSc. She is also a published author.
Harassing behaviours can include:
- name-calling, insults or ridicule;
- unnecessary or unwanted touching[1];
- abusive verbal or written comments related to disability;
- deliberately putting aids and adaptations out of reach;
- cyber-bullying, using the internet or mobile phones to threaten, bully or intimidate such as sending offensive emails, texts and posting threats or offensive comments on social networking sites;
- stealing from or the financial exploitation of a disabled person including taking their benefits money;
- damage to a disabled person’s property, including aids and adaptations;
- sexual abuse, rape and sexual assault[2];
- physical assaults, ranging from lower level assaults up to murder.
What kind of impact does disability-related harassment have?
Disabled people report that that so called ‘low-level’[3] disability-related harassment isa backdrop to their everyday lives. However, this ‘lowlevel’ harassment can be very upsetting and the cumulative effect of this can be significant. Below disabled people talk about the impact of harassment on them.
Social isolation
‘I just felt I don’t want to go through this again. I’d rather stay at home where I’m safe... I just wouldn’t go out.’
“I can walk although it is with great pain and difficulty. I take a wheelchair with me most places and I am treated so much differently. When I do get out of the wheelchair and walk a little way, I have been accused of faking it and being lazy. Because on the outside I look healthy and "normal" people expect me to be healthy and normal.”
Just putting up with it
“I rise above it, try to ignore it”
“When I was younger I was more angry, wanted to go and bop them. Now I tend to think oh you’re just stupid, you’re not worth it.”
Feeling fearful and threatened
“You avoid it, there are lots of places where I would avoid going. I wouldn’t go to the town centre after eight at night. I have been travelling on the bus and I feel threatened. I avoid the situation, if I get called names I walk off.”
Part 2
A Guide to reporting disability related harassment
Why reporting disability-related harassment is so important
Unless disability-related harassment is reported, it is unlikely that the police and other public bodies will take effective action to address it; they will simply not know it is going on. So it is essential that it is reported and recorded properly. If you or another person feels that disability may be a reason for the harassment or part of a reason, then it is important for the police or public body to know and record that.
Disabled people often do not want to report harassment when it occurs. There are a range of reasons for this, including fear of consequences, concerns that they won’t be believed and lack of information about who to report to. Sometimes disabled people don’t even recognise that what is happening to them is harassment and so don’t report it. We also know of some situations where people report incidents but the people taking the report don’t recognise or record it as hate crime or harassment.
Disabled People’s Organisations and other organisations that support disabled people have an important role here. They can support disabled people (and others) to recognise and report these crimes and they can build up relationships with local agencies to ensure that these reports are taken seriously. There are some ideas in Part 3 of this toolkit about how this can be done.
Reporting an incident to the police
There are a number of ways to report to the police:
If a crime is taking place or if someone is in immediate danger, contact the police using the emergency number 999.
If you have registered with emergency SMS you can contact the police by SMS text from your mobile phone
If the danger is not immediate, contact Police Scotland via their non-emergency number by dialling 101.
If disabled people lack confidence in reporting directly to the police, they can report an incident to a 3rd Party Reporting Centre who will contact the police for them. There is information about 3rd Party reporting centres below.
- You can contact Police Scotland through their website at by emailing on the contact us page.
- You can submit an online hate crime form through the website by clicking the Report Hate Crime button the right hand side of the home page.
- You can report incidents to the Police in person by visiting a Police station or by speaking to any police officer you meet in the street..
- Phone App – Coming Soon – I Am Me are working with Police Scotland to develop a Keep Safe phone app that maps out Keep Safe places and enables reports of hate crime to go straight to the Police (non emergency only).
Disabled people can also report disability-related harassment at the following places:
School – if the harassment happened at school, or it was carried out by pupils from a local school;
Public transport – if the harassment happened on public transport or at a bus stop or bus/train station, contact the public transport provider;
In the community – contact the local council anti-social behaviour or community safety team. Social housing tenants should contact their housing provider;
Doctor – report harassment to a GP and seek treatment for injuries to physical/mental health as a result of harassment;
Childline – if you are a child or young person experiencing, harassment, bullying or abuse contact telephone 0800 1111
What are 3rd Party Reporting Centres?
A 3rdParty Reporting centre is a place for a victim of disability related harassment to report an incident. These centres were previously known as remote reporting centres. They have been set up because people do not always feel confident to report an incident directly to the police. Such arrangements are often with local Disabled People’s Organisations and Access Panels but can be with other organisations such as advice centres, victim support organisations or local councils.