National Hate Crime Awareness Week runs from 9th to 16th October with the purpose of raising awareness of Hate Crime. York Disability Rights Forum has taken this opportunity to raise awareness of Disability Hate Crime. We formed a Hate Crime project several months ago and will be holding an online event during National Hate Crime Awareness Week.
What is a Hate Crime?
A Hate Crime is defined as “…any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race or perceived religion; sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation; disability or perceived disability and any crime motivated by hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender.”
A Hate Crime can come in many forms such as: physical assault, verbal assault and incitement to hatred. Incitement to hatred means to stir up hatred whether it be through pictures, videos or music.
What is the Hate Crime Project?
Volunteers from York Human Rights City Network have teamed up with York Disability Rights Forum to see what can be done about Disability Hate Crime in York and raise awareness about it. Disability Hate Crime is often a form of Hate Crime that is forgotten about.
Our Online Event
We have an online event on the 14th October at 5:30pm-7:00pm. It will include discussion, how to be an ally and a talk from PC Stuart Henderson on how to report a Hate Crime and get support. Members of York People First, a self advocacy group for adults with learning difficulties, will also talk about what they have been doing to tackle hate crime and will show a short film that they made recently. The event is free to attend and we hope to see you there.
You can book through Eventbrite, or by emailing us.
Podcasts
Currently we are creating a series of podcasts to discuss issues regarding Disability Hate Crime. They will be heavily focused on people’s lived experiences and we hope that this will encourage others to come forward to get help and support. If anybody is willing to volunteer and share their experiences, we would love to hear from you: you can email Olivia or leave us a voicemail on 01904 326781.
At least one of the podcasts will focus on what to do if you witness a disabled person being abused or attacked. It’s not always easy to know what to do so we hope this will help provide some information and ideas about how to step in but also how to stop incidents escalating or starting in the first place.
Reporting Hate Crime
Citizen’s Advice provide information about how to report a hate incident or hate crime:
If you’ve experienced, or know someone who has experienced a hate incident or hate crime you can report it to the police. You can contact the police directly, or you can use an online reporting facility such as True Vision. There are also local organisations who can help you report the incident or crime.
If you use True Vision, once you’ve filled in the form on the website, it’s sent directly to your local police force. You can also print the self-reporting form which you must then send to your local police. It’s important to give as many details as possible, as this helps the police deal with your case more effectively. If you want the police to investigate the incident, you need to provide your contact details and the best time to contact you.
You may be worried about the police contacting you at home. If this is the case, you can ask the police to contact you through someone you trust and who has agreed to provide their details. You still need to provide your contact details as well. The reporting forms tell you what information you need to give the police when reporting the hate incident or crime.
When describing the offender, it’s useful to give general information such as age, height, build, gender, ethnicity and clothing. Also try to remember any particular features such as:
- hair colour
- glasses
- jewellery or piercing
- tattoos
- facial hair
- a particular accent
- teeth
- scars
- birth marks.