ABSTRACT
Hate crimes both impact on the individual targeted as well as wider community life, as they indicate intolerance and a lack of safety for disabled people, further spreading fear and othering. Disablism can be said to refer to discriminatory, oppressive and abusive behaviour targeted at disabled people. Hate speech and hate crimes can thus be seen as forms of disablism regularly encountered. The wider social victimisation of autistic people and those with learning disabilities is well documented in research. L. Richardson, through using a survey method as well as focus groups and interviews, looked into hate incidents toward autistic people and those with learning disabilities, including wider forms of victimisation. 46% of their sample had been victimised and many also talked of historical abuse and bullying. National surveys such as by E. Emerson and C. Hatton found a figure of 32%. In both these samples, those deemed more “able” participants experienced more serious incidents of victimisation.
