Culture of disbelief prevents authorities from tackling disability harassment: EHRC

A culture of disbelief has prevented public authorities from effectively tackling the harassment or abuse of disabled people, a report by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission has found.

The report, Hidden in Sight, said hundreds of thousands of disabled people regularly experienced harassment – whether verbal or physical abuse, theft and fraud, sexual harassment or bullying.

The watchdog said its inquiry had found “serious and systemic failings” in the way public authorities dealt with the issue.

The EHRC also cited evidence that perpetrators rarely faced any consequences for their actions, and victims continued to live in fear of harassment.

A series of recommendations centred on three areas: recognition; prevention; and redress.

In relation to recognition, the report said:

• senior managers "need to recognise this as an issue and show leadership";
• better information on the harassment of disabled people needs to be collected by all agencies; and
• a more positive attitude towards disabled people needs to be encouraged across society.

On prevention, the EHRC said:

• agencies must share best practice;
• staff should be given training and guidance on how to deal with disability-related harassment;
• research should be done into perpetrators and how to deter them.

When it come to redress:

• the criminal justice system “must become more accessible and responsive to disabled people”;
• police must routinely consider disability as a motive where a victim is disabled;
• victims must be better supported; and
• perpetrators brought to justice.

As part of its inquiry, the EHRC conducted a detailed examination of ten cases of severe abuse, nine of which resulted in the death of the victim. This found that some of the public bodies involved in the cases had been aware of earlier incidents of harassment, but had done little to stop further problems.

The authorities were often guilty of failing to share information. In five out of the 10 cases, there was no serious case review, which the EHRC suggested meant important lessons would not be learned.

The watchdog found that disabled people often did not report incidents “as it may be unclear who to report it to, they may fear the consequences of reporting, or they may fear that the police and other authorities will not believe them”.

Incidents were often treated in isolation, rather than as a pattern of behaviour. “There is often a focus on the victim’s behaviour rather than dealing with the perpetrators,” the EHRC added.

The EHRC will consult on its recommendations, before publishing a manifesto for change in the spring of 2012.

Mike Smith, lead commissioner and disability committee chair at the EHRC, said: “For me, two particular concerns come out of this inquiry. The first is just how much harassment seems to be going on. It's not just some extreme things happening to a handful of people: it's an awful lot of unpleasant things happening to a great many people. The second is that no one knows about it. When we were young we were told not to stare at disabled people. So no one has been.

“It's as though there is collective denial this could be happening, as if people are thinking 'we are supposed to feel sorry for these people, so why would anyone be deliberately horrible to them?' Maybe it just makes us too uncomfortable, thinking that might be the society in which we live.”

Smith said dealing with disability-related harassment would take concerted effort by a significant number of public authorities, with proper leadership and joint working at all levels.

“But it won't just be public authorities that have to act differently,” he added. “It's all of us. I want the person at the bus stop who sees something happening, or the plumber repairing a tap who comes across something untoward, to know that they too should take action.”