Commentary on “‘I felt I deserved it’ – experiences and implications of disability hate crime”

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on “‘I felt I deserved it’ – Experiences and implications of disability hate crime”.

Comparing the findings reported by Richardson and her colleagues with the wider evidence base, it is clear that there is considerable consistency. While scholarship in this area is still nascent, there is sufficient clarity around key issues that should support action to tackle hate crime against people with learning disability and/or autism.

Interventions should not make uncritical assumptions around the vulnerability of people with learning disability and/or autism. Poor service commissioning, design and delivery can play a part in heightening risks. Hate crime is not simply a criminal justice issue, and effective intervention will rely on multi-agency working.

The commentary recommends a social model approach towards understanding hate crime and how it may be tackled. It identifies the challenges confronting multi-agency working by situating the analysis against the wider context of public spending cuts and the impact of these on wider societal attitudes towards disabled people.