Living in the shadows of hatred and death threats

Published on Wednesday 7 April 2004 01:00

‘ONCE I was on a bus in the middle of the day when someone threatened to slit my throat. She was about my age. I was sitting quite near the back of the bus and I knew I couldn’t reach the driver. My legs turned to jelly . . ."

That was Helen’s most terrifying experience of hate crime in the Capital. The fact she was subjected to a death threat in broad daylight in the city is shocking enough. But what is even more appalling, is the only reason she was targeted was because she is disabled.

The 36-year-old mature student, who does not want to be identified further for fear of repercussions, suffers from a rare condition similar to cerebral palsy which causes her to shake and make involuntary movements, affecting her mobility and speech. Luckily, she says, seconds after she was threatened, a friend got on the bus and sat next to her, prompting her would-be assailant to fall silent and leave the bus without carrying out the threat.

But it was not an isolated incident. And this woman is not an isolated victim. Almost 50 per cent of disabled people in Scotland questioned in a survey published earlier this week said they had experienced verbal abuse, threatening behaviour and/or physical attacks because of their disability. Of those victims, one in three said they were attacked at least once a month. One in three also said they changed their daily routine to avoid abuse and one in four claimed they had been forced to move home to escape hate crime.

Like other victims of discrimination, disabled people are singled out because they are different. But while racism and sectarianism are increasingly recognised and targeted by government initiatives, campaigners say prejudice against disabled people is not. The research, by the Disability Rights Commission and Capability Scotland, has sparked renewed calls for a change in the law to bring in tough punishments for people who commit crimes motivated by prejudice against the disabled.

Helen says: "Thirty years ago it used to be acceptable to call a Pakistani person a Paki. Now it is not. But I don’t want to have to wait another 30 years to feel safe. We need to change the law now.

"It was last year when the woman threatened to slit my throat on the bus. It was horrendous. She accused me of looking at her friend ‘funny’. I don’t know if she actually had a knife or not but I was really scared. Thankfully a friend got on the bus and sat next to me.

"The woman got off the bus before me and I tried to make eye contact. I felt: ‘Why did you pick on me? To pick on the most vulnerable people in society you must have problems’. She knew she was wrong, though. She put her head down and looked the other way. When I got off the bus I burst into tears."

The abuse she has suffered has always been carried out by strangers and at one point she experienced threats of violence or verbal attacks every month, often at bus stops at night. So far, she has escaped physical injury, but the emotional pain can be intense.

"One time I was in the supermarket and a woman turned to her friend and said, in front of her two young children: ‘Look! It’s the lady off Thunderbirds!’ I was just trying to do my shopping like everyone else and my heart just went. I thought: ‘I’m not normal’. It brought home to me how different I was.

"The mother’s friend did say: ‘That wasn’t very nice’ but what chance do her children have if that’s what their mother is like? I just had to get out."

Born able-bodied, Helen was suddenly struck by a rare condition at the age of 13 which rendered her disabled. Ironically, her first experience of prejudice took place in a college for disabled people.

"I was called a spastic by another student. I was quite shocked by that, that it happened in a segregated college. But that type of thing happened all the time. It was almost accepted. I think in a funny kind of way they were trying to toughen us up for the real world."

An intelligent and independent woman, she refuses to be intimidated and once gave chase to a young man who shook a metal pole in her face at a city bus-stop, stopping only when he threw it at her feet. But, as the new report highlights, others are less confident, and she knows friends who live in fear.

"There’s no way these idiots are going to take my independence away - I’ve fought hard for it. I answer back and I’m 6ft tall so at least I can look down on them. But I know people who just stay indoors. It’s them I feel for."

And despite her determination not to let the abusers "win", her fear of reprisals from her attackers is so great she has refused to take anyone to court. "When it happens, I do report it to my local police station. But I wait until the abusers have gone as I don’t want them caught. I know they are breaking the law, but I wouldn’t want to take anyone to court as I live on my own and I am too scared of the repercussions." She adds: "The police officers get quite upset when I report the incidents to them, as they know me. They are very supportive and they ask me to call them quicker when it happens. But their hands are tied because they need witnesses and people are not going to come forward."

However, she still wants tougher legislation brought in because its very existence would make her feel more protected. "It would be good to know I had that protection. And I think I would use it if I was physically

attacked."

The DRC has consistently called for changes in the law to recognise hate crime against disabled people, with tough penalties for convicted offenders. DRC Scottish director Bob Benson says: "This report provides concrete proof that many disabled people live in constant fear of attack and harassment. It is completely unacceptable that in the 21st century people find themselves victims of physical and verbal abuse and other types of crime, simply because they are perceived to be different.

"Public opinion in Scotland is strongly in favour of criminalising such behaviour - an overwhelming 88 per cent of respondents in a recent DRC survey felt harassment of disabled people should be made an offence."

The official definition of hate crime is criminal behaviour motivated by malice or ill will towards a social group. The Scottish Executive set up an arms-length Hate Crime Working Group last summer to consider the calls to create harsher punishments and a specific offence for crimes aggravated by prejudice against social groups purely because of their age, disability, gender or sexual orientation. The group is engaged in a public consultation exercise which is due to finish at the end of this month, after which it will report findings back to

ministers.

An Executive spokesman says: "Quite clearly there is no place in Scotland for crime motivated by prejudice or discrimination. The Hate Crime Working Group was set up to look at these issues and this research [from the Disability Rights Commission and Capability Scotland] will contribute to the consultation exercise which the working group is carrying out."

Meanwhile, people with disabilities are left to cope with the horrendous abuse which they suffer throughout Scotland. Studying sociology has helped Helen gain an insight into the problem, which she copes with through a combination of counselling, humour and

optimism.

"I am generally a very positive person - you have got to be. You have to laugh sometimes as it is so ridiculous. I’m not obsessed about it. Being threatened or called names is not uppermost in my mind every time I go out. You can’t think like that or you would end up in the Royal Edinburgh [psychiatric hospital] - or Saughton Prison.

"I don’t laugh at the time, though, and I have counselling and a life coach. I didn’t have either just for this [hate crime], but every little helps."