Almost half of all adults with learning disabilities and autism surveyed in new research led by the University’s Tizard Centre said they had suffered some form of disability hate related incident when they were out in the community.
The Kent-based, three-year research project, titled Living in Fear: Better Outcomes for People with Learning Disabilities and Autism, found that a third of those surveyed living in the Medway area said they had been attacked and victimised. Others surveyed reported verbal abuse, damage to their property and name calling. The situation became so bad in some cases that people were forced to move out of their home and make other significant changes in their lives.
The research team from the Tizard Centre worked closely with Autism London (part of charity MCCH Society Ltd), who received funding from the Big Lottery Fund, and Kent Police to survey people with learning disabilities and autism, as well as carers and police officers.
Following the research report, MCCH, Kent Police and Medway Council will carry out a pilot project aimed at reducing assaults, bullying, verbal harassment and other forms of victimisation of people with learning disabilities and autism.
The researchers analysed 255 responses from people with learning disabilities and autism, and their carers, and had access to the records of 999 and non-emergency calls to Kent Police reporting the victimisation of those with learning disabilities and autism.
Dr Julie Beadle-Brown, Reader in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities at the Tizard Centre, led the research team in what is believed to be the most comprehensive study of hate crime against adults with learning disabilities and autism to date.
She said: ‘Although many people live in the community without experiencing hate crime or victimisation, it is shocking that nearly half of those we surveyed reported they had been attached or otherwise victimised.
‘The impact of these types of hate crime can be severe and long lasting. Indeed, the most common response is for people suffering victimisation is to change their lives in some way – including moving home – to try and avoid further incidents.
‘There is now a clear need for the government to refresh its hate crime action plan to reflect the findings from this study and add actions specifically related to victims with autism and learning disabilities.’
Colin Guest, project manager from MCCH, said: ‘While we had heard of the fears and bad experiences of some people living in Kent and Medway, the partners carried out this extensive research because there was no reliable evidence about the extent of the problem, the impact on victims, whether they were reporting incidents and what responses they got if they did tell somebody.
‘The government believes that across the UK, disability hate crime is hugely under-reported and that many people with learning disabilities face daily harassment and hate crime. Now we’ve now got the research findings necessary to make some valuable recommendations for agencies to work together to prevent victimisation – and provide effective support for when it does happen.
‘We are very pleased that as the research project closes MCCH will be able to work with Kent Police and Medway Council in piloting a number of the key recommendations’.
In November, the University was awarded a prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for the work of the Tizard Centre, which for more than 30 years has worked to improve the lives of people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and their families, focusing on the relationship between policy, management and practice to bring about improvements in the quality of their lives.