Thames Valley Alerts: Fear of Rise In Disability Hate Crime

We write to you today 24th July 2020 to advise you of the fear of a rise in Disability Hate Crime, especially as new legislation about face coverings comes into effect today across England. There has been a big increase during Covid-19 of targeted attacks on disabled people.

They have been verbally abused, spat at and in some instances physically attacked. For example, one disabled passenger on public transport, who cannot wear a face covering, was targeted by another passenger, who shouted: “This person hasn’t got a mask. This person is trying to infect us. They are trying to kill us.”

We have posted an article on our website in the hope that by raising awareness and promoting compassion and respect, that we have together highlighted this issue in our communities.

The link is: https://www.ourwatch.org.uk/news/fear-rise-disability-hate-crime