Disability abuse
[ch 5: pages 60-61]The TUC has reported that the impact of benefit cuts and the associated campaign of demonisation of disabled people has encouraged hate crime in the wider community.
A 2009 report published by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Disabled people’s experiences of targeted violence and hostility, said that work-based settings, along with schools and colleges, can be hotspot areas where targeted violence and hostility takes place. More recently, delegates at public services union UNISON’s 2016 disabled members’ conference heard that members are being bullied, harassed and subjected to violence because of their disabilities. The union reported that research from Cardiff University found that a worrying 21% of people with a learning disability are subjected to violence in their workplace, compared to 10% of disabled workers overall and 5% of workers with no disability.
The TUC’s manifesto for disability equality promotes equality for disabled people in Britain and elsewhere who face discrimination, poverty and prejudice, and calls for the law to treat disability hate crime as seriously as other hate crimes.