Disability and Hate

Abstract Disability hate crime refers to criminal offences that are motivated by hostility towards a person’s real or perceived disability. Disability hate crime exists within broader patterns of marginalisation and often occurs in the everyday lives of disabled people. Hostility against disabled people is rooted within historical relations that have Othered disability as inferior, undesirable and deviant. In the contemporary context, disabled people continue to be stigmatised through the rhetoric of austerity, ideals surrounding dependency and productivity, and perceptions of quality of life. Understandings of disability hate crime have developed significantly in recent years within both policy-making and academic debate. Drawing upon broader theorisations of hate crime, disability hate crime can be understood as a response to societal tension and division, perceptions of threat to normative social orders, and constructions of vulnerability and difference. Despite the prevalence, disability hate crime remains to be under-reported and under-recorded. Barriers that may prevent disabled people from reporting their experiences to the police include mistrust in the criminal justice system, fear of not being believed, and the normalisation of hate within everyday life. For those who do report, additional barriers such as inaccessible communication methods, negative police attitudes and limited understanding and disability and hate crime, contribute to poor criminal justice outcomes.