Turning the tables on the lowest of criminals in Cumbria
News and Star, 27 June 2011
Taken at face value, the statistics suggest no widespread problems. Yet evidence has emerged that they could mask a bigger issue than thought.
Between 2008 and 2010, only eight hate crimes against disabled people were reported in Cumbria.
While any offence is one too many, the figures suggest crimes of this kind are not common in the county.
Not so, say many of those affected.
It is just that many victims are not coming forward to tell police what has happened to them.
A recent survey of disabled people in Cumbria found that half of those questioned said they had been a victim of hate crime.
It is an issue police say they are keen to tackle and to get a greater handle on so they bring those responsible to justice.
Pc Julie Dodd, an equality officer with Cumbria police, says: "All hate crime is serious. We want to encourage anyone who is a victim to come forward, and then we can act upon it.
"A lot of people experience these issues and we want them to know it's not acceptable.
"When people report crimes, if there is evidence then we try and work towards a prosecution.
"The majority of the reports we have had deal with verbal abuse, but there have been more serious incidents.”
Pc Dodd says efforts are already underway between police, prosecutors and the Probation Service to address issues surrounding hate crime.
"One of the methods we're increasingly using on those convicted of hate crimes is restorative justice,” she explains.
"We take those who have committed crimes to see their victims, so they can see the damage that they have done. It's very effective.”
Another method that the police are using to tackle attitudes towards disabled people is education.
Part of that involves youngsters spending time with disabled people, giving them a greater understanding of their needs and to highlight the fact that targeting them for abuse is wrong.
The Heathlands Project, near Carlisle, run by the Glenmore Trust to support and educate those with disabilities, is involved.
Project manager Bill Parkin says: "We want to help disabled people fulfil their ambitions and help them become as independent as possible and live their lives as they want to.”
The question is: how?
Mr Parkin explains: "School and police visits are important.
"We're aiming to have 40 school visits this year – that's a total of 1,500 children that we can show our message to.
"They give us the opportunity to discuss disability and to educate people. I really want us to have an influence.
"We're able to inform people from all age groups that hate crimes are wrong.
"People can come to use and report abuse or crimes in total confidence, even if the attack wasn't on them.
"Sometimes we get a lot of reports and sometimes we don't get many, but the police have been able to solve problems that we have had brought to our attention.”
Third party reporting is another method that is coming increasingly into usage.
Night classes have even been run on how people can report crimes, whether they be a victim or witness.
Pc Dodd says: "We need to further advertise the third party reporting system because we've found it's working really well.
"A lot of people who are victims of disabled hate crimes have a very hard time coming forward, and feel it's a very big thing to contact the police.”
Ollie Flitcroft from Cumbria Disability Network agrees that education is the best policy.
"We need to educate in the workplace and in school so that we get a better understanding of disabled people.
"The police need to focus on awareness and to take it more seriously, which I think they are.
"There has been a perception that crimes against disabled people are not as serious as other hate crimes, and this is totally wrong.
"There are advocacy groups such as Mencap that do fantastic work, and ensure that people who are being abused have someone to go to.
"Coming face to face with abuse is a big issue, and it can be really quite traumatic.”
Another problem with the statistics on disabled hate crime is the ambiguity surrounding its definition.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not regard all incidents or crimes committed against disabled people as a disability hate crime.
For example, if someone were to steal a wallet from a blind person, seeing their blindness as making them vulnerable, this would not be classed as a hate crime under current legislation.
In fact, there is no statutory definition of what constitutes a disabled hate crime.
The Association of Chief Police Officers defines a disability-related incident as "any incident which is perceived to be based upon prejudice towards or hatred of the victim, because of their disability or so perceived by the victim or any other person”.
Current legislation gives courts power to increase the sentence for any offence aggravated by hostility based on the victim's disability.
The main problem the CPS faces is the low proportion of reported crimes.
But for victims, reporting an offence and giving evidence in court can be difficult and stressful.
With regards to giving evidence in court, a number of measures have been introduced that the CPS hope will alleviate this problem.
Witness care officers who work directly with victims can make the process less traumatic by answering questions, keeping victims updated, and helping with practical difficulties.
Once in court, prosecutors can apply for special measures to make the process easier. These include using screens in the courtroom so that the victim doesn't have to see or be seen by the defendant, giving evidence via video link instead of being in the courtroom, and using an intermediary to explain questions asked and answers being given.
Chris Long, Cumbria's deputy chief crown prosecutor, supports these measures and believes disabled hate crimes should be taken more seriously.
He says: "Disability hate crime has a devastating effect because it undermines the sense of safety and security that disabled people have.
"For this reason these crimes should be regarded as particularly serious.
"Such crimes are based on ignorance, prejudice, discrimination and hate, and they have no place in an open and democratic society.
"The number of disability hate cases referred to the CPS is very low, and the recent research has confirmed that many incidents go unreported.
"Sadly this is the case not only in Cumbria but across the country.
"We want to work together with police, other project partners and disability groups to raise awareness among the general public and disabled people themselves.
"It is vital that we increase the confidence of disabled people in reporting incidents that happen to them, and the awareness of the public that they should report any incidents that they witness.”
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Disabled Cumbrian man's experiences are inspiration for film
News and Star, 4 July 2011
A walk in the woods is something many of us take for granted. But for Kevin Pardell – and other wheelchair users – the rough, soft and muddy ground makes it a highly uncomfortable, if not impossible, experience.
Three years ago he set about writing a poem on this very subject, unaware it would spark something much bigger.
It was the first time Kevin, who has lived with disability since birth, had really opened up. He talked about the pent-up frustration he felt as a child, watching other boys climbing around in trees, unable to join in.
Over the following months his story gradually unfolded. He started to talk about his childhood years and the bullying he suffered at school, at the hands of fellow pupils and even teachers, simply because of his disability.
His experiences became the inspiration behind a powerful new film, Joseph's Story, which he hopes will challenge society's attitude towards disability – and prevent other people being treated the way he has been.
Joseph's Story is based on Kevin's own experiences, but could apply to any disabled person. He says he found it easier to open up as a third person, somehow disconnecting himself as a way of exorcising the ghosts from his past.
However this wasn't the main goal. His real aim was to change the way people perceive those with disabilities, initially intending to create a training aid for people working in the care sector. But as the project grew, it became clear there was a much wider need for the film. Plans are now afoot to get it shown in schools across Cumbria, as well as incorporating Joseph's Story into general equality training programmes for both businesses and other organisations.
"I hope that by watching the film, people will learn lessons and other disabled people will not have to go through what I went through.
"I'm not in this to get any awards. If it changes just one person's life I've won. That's what has motivated me,” he explains.
Kevin, 42, of Camp Road, Maryport, was born two months premature, weighing just two pounds. His chances of survival were slim and his parents were told to have him Christened right away as he may not make it.
Against the odds he pulled through, but was left with cerebral palsy – a condition which affects muscle development and movement.
As a result he has spent most of his life in a wheelchair and, at one time or another, has experienced all of the restrictions and reactions that come with it. He says the most common is being treated as stupid or useless.
In reality, Kevin is an intelligent and independent young man who just happens to be in a wheelchair. But when he meets people he says they will often speak over him, instead addressing the carer who is pushing him – the classic being to ask them, not him, if he takes sugar in his tea.
Although it may seem obvious, Kevin believes that it is not often malice that causes people to react this way, simply ignorance. "Until they know someone with a disability or have experienced it themselves, they just don't think. That or they just don't know what to say,” he explains.
It is this belief that has motivated him to make the film. He hopes that by using his own experiences to openly address society's taboo, it will make people stop and think next time they meet a disabled person.
And that is, in a way, how the whole project came about.
Kevin attends Allerdale COSC (Copeland Occupational & Social Centre), a day centre for people with disabilities in Maryport, and is a member of their poetry group, Parkhill Poets. One day tutor Judy Rochester suggested they write a poem about walking in the woods, which is where it all started.
Although most of the members had at one time in their lives walked in the woods, Kevin, having been born disabled, had not.
She encouraged him to use that as inspiration, which is when his now-famous poem was born.
Not long after, the National Trust were looking for a disabled person to help them improve wheelchair access at Wordsworth House during its refurbishment. Remembering his poem, Judy put forward Kevin's name.
From there, the poetry group was invited to Dove Cottage at Grasmere to work with a group of interns undergoing disability awareness training.
To help them understand, Kevin put some of his own life story down in words to hand out on the day.
But curator Jeff Cowton was so moved reading it that he asked Kevin to give a talk at the event.
This was a big step for him, but the reaction he got made him realise how important this could be.
"From Dove Cottage, it became apparent to me that there wasn't really any disability awareness training from the point of view of a person with physical disabilities. With the best will in the world, the packs have usually been written by professors, not by someone who is living with it every day. We went away and thought about it and decided to change that,” explains Kevin.
With Judy's help, he started to record some of his memories. Although many of them were happy, particularly those with his parents and sister, it soon became apparent that he had been scarred by some of the things that happened during his childhood, especially during his time at mainstream school.
One particularly painful memory, touched on in the film, is of one afternoon when he was eight or nine. His school support worker was called away to a family emergency, leaving him to fend for himself for the afternoon. A friend pushed him into the cloakroom, but at that point Kevin could not undo his own buttons. His teacher came in and told him to take his coat off and get to class. He tried to explain that he couldn't, but she refused to listen, instead labelling him an ‘idiot' and ‘imbecile' – words that have continued to haunt him since.
Kevin said reliving experiences like this were particularly difficult, but he said Judy and the staff at COSC really helped him.
When it got really difficult, he also found inner courage by thinking about Paralympic tennis star Mark Eccleston, who gave a moving and inspirational talk about his own experiences with disability to COSC members last year.
"In a way I was exorcising some ghosts. It has got a lot of it out of my system, like a weight being lifted off,” he says.
"It also helped doing it at the centre, rather than at home. I think it was too close. Saying that, I've had some of the staff in tears while they've been helping me with it.
"I definitely find it easier to talk about now, I don't know if it's because I've done it as Joseph. Maybe that has helped me detach myself. If it stops the next generation of youngsters going through some of what I did then it's been worth it.”
Kevin's DVD is being launched at Allerdale COSC today, when guests from different organisations are invited to view the film. Already it is building momentum, with Kevin being invited to speak alongside a university professor at a disability awareness conference later in the year.
Kevin says special thanks must go to Peter Telford, a freelance disability arts development worker from Carlisle, who made the film, COSC, Parkhill Poets, the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) and the Wordsworth Trust.
Copies of the film, complete with educational packs and written versions of Joseph's Story, are now available, priced £15. After production costs, any extra revenue will be donated to COSC. To get one contact Kevin via the Maryport centre on 01900 819648.
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HELP: #EHRC #disability harrasment inquiry
Broken Of Britian
Anne Novis, MBE has posted to our Facebook page asking for your help. She writes:
Hi everyone I need your help. I have been an advisor to the EHRC disability harrasment inquiry. They have asked me for any evidence of any hostility directly related to government comments, speeches, news releases etc. There has to be a direct link so say someone says something that is the same as what MP etc has said. Or newspaper article comments which indicate hostility related to info in article about disabled people, benefit fraud, motability, work shy etc etc. I know the info is out there but trawling through all forums etc beyond me. I will collate all links and info and send to EHRC
Any help appreciated:)
This is an urgent request. Please submit your links here so that everything is in one place: mainstream media - Mail, Telegraph, Sun, Mirror, Express as well as prominent blogs, including those of all the parties. Responses on videos on YT helpful as well as all radio/TV shows where people have phoned in.
Many thanks!
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HELP: Pt 2 of #EHRC #disability harrasment inquiry - PERSONAL STORIES
Broken Of Britian, 24 June 2011
Anne Novis, MBE has posted again to our Facebook Page. She is overwhelmed at the response to help her prepare her report for the EHRC Disability Harassment Enquiry. She writes:
Wow everyone you have done so well giving me info to send to EHRC re hostility related to government comments and info. BBC Ouchers have also helped, thank you so much. I have 30 pages of evidence!!!!! Thanks to you!!
Anne has a further request she'd like our help with; personal stories.
I would appreciate any more personal experiences of abuse, verbal or otherwise, harassment that you feel you have experienced due to what government and media is saying about us. It's this direct experience that has more wieght, many thanks
As before, please respond to this post. You can submit links to something you've already written elsewhere or write it as a comment.
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Our choice is to treat people with dignity or go back to the 1930s
Sue Marsh, Diary of a Benefit Scrounger, 27 June 2011
Time to Choose. Will YOU fight with me?
I started to write about the Compass conference at the weekend which, frankly, was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish. If it could go wrong, it went wrong and I was just so sick I barely knew my own name. The one silver lining was the actual seminar on welfare itself which was triumphant. The "most interesting welfare debate ever, surely?" seemed to be the consensus.
I was interrupted this morning by a doctor's appointment, where, yet again, I have been sent home to bed, my laptop is to be confiscated and I have to rest on pain of a hospital admission on Thursday if I don't improve.
I've had 7 weeks now of a crohn's flare that screwed up my immune system, which led to a virus, which turned into a chest infection. If I don't get better, pneumonia is just a blink away.
And all I really wanted to say before I am exiled to a world without even my cyber friends, is that this is why politicians do what they do. And they do it because we let them.
The last few months have taught me that welfare is the murkiest department of all. Crammed with hard-liners, right-wingers, hang-em-an-whip-em, scrounger-crushing, hawks. There has only been one narrative for about 30 years - "How do we stop paying people who are sick?" This has been based on just one assumption - that we're all the man Ed Miliband met with a gammy leg who could be doing something else. Or we're dying of cancer. There's nothing in between.
I don't exist in their ignorant model of disability - or many other people's, Compass taught me that - and should any of us get beyond our station and dare to fight them, dare to speak out and try to make people see, they can be pretty confident that the fight will kill us before anyone's really noticed. Lets not forget the thousands who are so profoundly disabled they don't even know what is being done in their name - they can't argue back can they? An easy target for welfare-psycopaths. (definition : "the inability to form human attachment[3] and an abnormal lack of empathy, masked by an ability to appear outwardly normal.")
I am disgusted by my country - that's the truth of it. Disgusted at what passes for parliamentary research, disgusted that lives can be sacrificed on "assumptions", disgusted with the Machiavellian power struggles that dull even the brightest political stars, disgusted with the arrogance of politicians who never bother to respond, disgusted with a media who choose to look the other way.
But most of all I'm disgusted with myself. Because however hard I try, however determined I am, however much I want to do this, it's killing me. My stupid, useless body just can't keep up with my perfectly capable brain. However I try to coerce it, or pamper it or persuade it, it just won't play the game. Those politicians who are so convinced that we can all just pick up our beds and walk might want to spend a week with me for living proof of someone trying to do just that. They might want to see what it's doing to my life, to my family and friends who get more frightened for me by the day.
But daily I become more convinced that there isn't a scrap of evidence in the world that will make these politicians think again. No statistics, no facts and figures, nothing. It doesn't matter how damning the studies, how wrong we can prove that they are, they just plough on regardless, supremely confident that hurting us is a price worth paying. They know what they want to do and they're just going to do it regardless. It's OK, sick and disabled people have no union, they can't strike, they have no powerful friends or glamorous celebrities. They're too tired or sick or disabled to fight, so don't lose any sleep over them.
Don't want to put disabled access into your 4 star central London, newly refurbished hotel? That's OK, we won't complain. Don't want to actually find us work we could do? That's OK, no-one will ask where you fell through the cracks.
And I'll leave you with this. Anyone reading this who thinks I'm just being a bit dramatic might want to think about the bits I don't write about. The real stories behind all of this that would just make me sound like a screaming conspiracist. The "just between me and you" conversations about politicians or spin doctors that I can't repeat or share. Frankly, my ears are bleeding and I wish I didn't know about any of the sordid, astonishing mess.
As Kaliya concluded in her session at the conference. "We have a choice. We can do this. We can push these reforms through and change the very nature of how we treat the most vulnerable in our society. We can follow the path of 1930s work programmes, institutions and eugenics once deemed acceptable both here and in the US, Canada, Japan and elsewhere and we can turn our backs. We can decide that the sick and disabled have little rights to basic dignity.
Or, we can open our eyes, start to listen, and think NOW, together about the kind of society we want to live in."
But we do have to think now. Because very soon it will be too late. And I think I can assure you that politicians of all parties are going to go for the first option. As a society, we have to start to look behind the scrounger wall they are building around us and decide if abandoning us is a price worth paying