Exclusion of disability
11. We received powerful evidence from disability
groups, for example, from Ms Maureen Piggot, Director of Mencap
in Northern Ireland, that people with disabilities are the subject
of a wide variety of 'hate crime' attacks including:
"kicking, biting, name-calling, teasing, stealing,
pushing, threatening, having things thrown at you, being told
to leave a building, hitting, being shouted at, swearing, demanding
money, hair-pulling, throwing stones, spitting, poking, being
punched, being beaten up, having one's head banged against the
wall."[20]
12. Mencap's evidence, collected in a survey in 1999
and which included Northern Ireland based focus groups, indicated
that almost a quarter of those surveyed had been physically assaulted.[21]
Unfortunately it is clear that many people with a learning disability
consider assaults and bullying as an inevitable fact of life.[22]
While it appears that neither disabled groups in Northern
Ireland,[23] the PSNI,
nor the Northern Ireland Office collect statistics on incidents
involving disabled people in Northern Ireland, Maureen Piggot
was clear that the attacks upon the disabled were numerous,
directly comparable with attacks on other groups which were the
object of 'hate crime',[24]
and applied to people with a wide range of disability, both
mental and physical.[25]
She also said that consideration should be given to the position
of the carers and families of disabled people who were often intimately
involved in any attacks,[26]
and officials appeared sympathetic to that: 'I would assume that
where a carer is an integral part of an individual's life for
whatever reason then an assault on a carer would be very similar
if not the same as an assault on the individual.'[27]
13. The Government's evidence was that attacks upon
disabled people appeared to be 'motivated more by opportunity
than hostility' and were not the result of 'hate crime'.[28]
We are unimpressed by this line of reasoning. We do not
understand how it is possible to take the 'opportunity' to attack
a disabled person without feeling 'hostility'. While the Government
believes that problems faced by disabled people can be addressed
by the 'broadening' of the penalties for violence, fear and harassment
which are proposed in the draft Order and are not specific to
'hate crime', this approach is sharply at variance with
the position in England and Wales where Section 146 of the Criminal
Justice Act 2003 explicitly applies 'hate crime' provisions to
offences against the disabled.[29]
14. In the absence of statistical information about
'hate crime' attacks on disabled people, the grounds for including
them within the protection of the draft Order may appear less
persuasive than for the other groups. However, the evidence we
received from disabled groups suggests that there is a potentially
serious problem which is being overlooked by the Government in
its proposed legislation. The
Government has failed to establish any grounds for adopting a
different approach in Northern Ireland to attacks against disabled
people than applies in England and Wales. We are concerned that
the Government, by not including hostility against disabled people
within the draft Order, is unintentionally encouraging the perception
that disabled people in Northern Ireland are less deserving of
specific legal protection than in England and Wales.[30]
The Government is rightly prepared to legislate on 'hate crime'
offences in Northern Ireland even where the numbers of recorded
incidents, while significant, are numerically modest—as
in the case of homophobic attacks.[31]
We believe that hate motivated incidents involving people with
disabilities are likely to be on a scale at least comparable to
that demonstrated for homophobic incidents.
15. The Government
and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) should begin
to collect statistics for incidents of 'hate crime' against disabled
people in Northern Ireland without delay in order that the scale
of the problem can be ascertained accurately. We were pleased
to hear that the PSNI see no particular difficulties in doing
so.[32]
16. However,
the collection of statistical information will take time and we
do not believe that the Government should wait before taking legislative
action. We found the arguments for the Government to amend the
draft Order to include 'hate crime' against the disabled compelling.
The change is small in drafting terms but could have a crucial
effect upon the lives of disabled people in Northern Ireland.
The Government should also give consideration to whether the carers
and families of disabled people require similar, targeted protection.[33]
By taking this action the Government would bring the law in Northern
Ireland into line with that in England and Wales and by doing
so will provide another signal that in Northern Ireland 'normal
rules apply'. The officials who gave evidence to us indicated
that the Government's mind was not closed on the matter.[34]
For the reasons set out above we urge the Government to ensure
that the proposed draft Order is amended to afford appropriate
protection from 'hate crime' to people with disabilities.
1 
