Why do people violently attack the disabled? Does disability hate crime exist?
A handful of violent and degrading attacks on disabled people have provoked outrage among the press and public. But are they isolated cases or one end of a spectrum of intimidation and violence that many disabled people encounter?
Tom Shakespeare is an academic based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He is also a person of restricted growth. He was travelling on the city's metro recently when he was verbally humiliated and intimidated by a group of schoolgirls.
Was he a victim of a disability hate crime? Mr Shakespeare thinks not, but others in his position would be less forgiving of their tormentors.
Tom Shakespeare is an academic based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He is also a person of restricted growth. He was travelling on the city's metro recently when he was verbally humiliated and intimidated by a group of schoolgirls.
Was he a victim of a disability hate crime? Mr Shakespeare thinks not, but others in his position would be less forgiving of their tormentors.
- added August 19, 2008
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