Report on “No Place for Hate” Event held on 12 October 2016
INTRODUCTION
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This was the third annual event organised by the Working Group of the Lambeth Disability Hate Crime Partnership to mark National Hate Crime Awareness Week . Our event for 2016 was the only one held in Lambeth and had a special focus on Disability Hate Crime. The event was held at Lambeth’s Disability Hub, “We are 336,” on Wednesday 12 October 2016. Over 60 people attended, many of them disabled individuals but also including the Mayor of Lambeth, Cllr Saleha Jaffer, and representatives from Disability Advice Service Lambeth, Carers Hub Lambeth, Lambeth Council, Mosaic Clubhouse, Voiceability, Learning Disability People’s Assembly, Certitude (Solidarity in a Crisis), Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE), “We are 336”, Lambeth Mencap’s Autism Project, Inclusion London, Lambeth Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), People First Lambeth, Lambeth’s Safer Transport Team, British Transport Police, “17-24-30”, Victim Support, Wheels for Wellbeing, SELVis (South East London Vision), Healthwatch Lambeth and the Metropolitan Police. Prominent campaigners Anne Novis MBE and Mark Healey (National Hate Crime Awareness Week & 17-24-30) were our guest speakers. Disability Hate Crime is on the increase but it remains very under-reported in Lambeth, as it is nationally. The main barriers are that someone experiencing hate crime may not recognise it as such and if reported, it is not recorded as a Hate Crime. Lack of information and access to support services also discourage disabled people from reporting Hate Crime. The Partnership held the event to raise awareness of what Disability Hate Crime is and how to report incidents and crimes, as well as launching the Hate Crime Reporting Centre for Disabled People at “We are 336”. It combined talks and interactive elements to engage informally with disabled people and offer a safe space for people to be heard and share their experiences, and to access information to know what to do if they think they have been a victim of a Hate Crime in Lambeth. Since the Partnership’s last public event in October 2015, the Working Group has continued to meet monthly. Cheryl Lewis was recruited to the two year project funded by Trust for London as the Hate Crime Advocacy and Outreach Worker in April 2016. Disability Advice Service Lambeth chairs the Partnership and the Working Group is supported by DASL’s Community Development Worker, Louise Holden. This report is about the 12th October event and summarises the contributions made held on the day, which will inform the Partnership’s continuing work.
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These hashtags were used on the day: #WeStandTogether #DHCPLambeth12Oct To see the conversation about the day, go to https://twitter.com/ hashtag/ dhcplambeth12oct
During the event we held a minute’s silence to remember people affected by Hate Crime.
1. Speeches The Mayor of Lambeth, Councillor Saleha Jaffer showed her continuing support for the work of the Partnership and stressed the importance of supporting disabled people who have experienced Hate Crime.
Mark Healey, National Hate Crime Awareness Week and 17-24-30 Mark Healey has been instrumental in getting Hate Crime onto the political agenda and is the founder of 17-24-30 and National Hate Crime Awareness Week. Combating all forms of Hate Crime should be a top priority for every community. His organisation’s work gives people a space to reflect and remember those who we have lost and give comfort to each other. David Strong and Gina Barrett David and Gina chaired the event and gave some background. David (Director of DASL) has been the Chair of the Lambeth Disability Hate Crime Partnership since it started in 2014. The Partnership has gone from strength to strength with a wide range of organisations signing up to create a network of support and expert advice and it provides a strategic direction for the development of Lambeth’s third party reporting centre, with its physical base at “We are 336” offering a weekly drop in, run by Victim Support, and DASL’s dedicated project worker, Cheryl Lewis. Each Partnership organisation is also able to take reports and signpost to the right support. Anne Novis MBE, Independent Advisor and Chair to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) for Disability Hate Crime, addressed the meeting about the importance of this issue. She highlighted the stark reality of hate crime against disabled people and cited the 500% increase in police
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recorded incidences in London up to October 2016. She said that this improvement in recording was largely due to the Disability Hate Crime Initiative; a partnership arrangement involving the London Metropolitan Police and Inclusion London which was launched in March 2016 with the aim of improving the police’s ability to identify and accurately record hate crime against disabled people. Anne stressed the need for more Deaf & Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPO’s) such as those within the Lambeth Disability Hate Crime Partnership to continue to work together to raise awareness about this serious issue. 2. Personal Experience of Hate Crime and Facilitated Breakout Sessions Roger Lewis, who works for Lambeth Council and is a member of the Lambeth Disability Hate Crime Partnership, spoke about a personal experience of a hate crime. He gave this in two parts. The first explained what happened to him. We then had a group discussion about what we thought about what happened; was it a hate crime; what we would have done; what options did we know about help available if this had happened to us? Roger then told everyone what he did about the incident. The main point of giving his experience was to highlight how different people react to similar events and the importance of reporting incidents to the police.
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3. Demonstration of how the Disability Hate Crime Advocacy Service works through role-play by Cheryl Lewis, (Disability Hate Crime Project Worker, DASL) and Maggie Brennan (Lambeth Mencap People’s Rights Group and People First Lambeth).
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The scripted role-play illustrated an example of the type of hate crime incidents that are experienced by many disabled people. It dramatised a disabled person reporting a hate crime via the Hate Crime Reporting Centre. It showed a woman relaying a harrowing experience during which she was verbally abused when sitting in a seat prioritised for disabled people while travelling on public transport. The play showed how distressing the experience can be for someone who is a victim of hate crime but especially highlighted the support that is available to someone attending the reporting centre. It also highlighted the main ’take-home’ points for the audience such as important details to note or record with regards the incident or crime, such as the date and approximate time the event took place and where it happened etc; also, if travelling on public transport, details such as the bus number etc. The key points, however, were the importance of reporting such incidents so that the police could investigate them and accurately record incidents and for us to further send a clear message that hate crime against disabled people will not be tolerated. The play was well received.
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4. Workshops There were two workshops to choose from Workshop 1 – What is Disability Hate Crime, How to Report Workshop 2 – Keeping Safe on Public Transport, in Green Room Everyone appreciated being able to give their experiences and be listened to. The majority of Disabled people who attended on the day had experienced some form of Hate Incident in the past, which highlighted the importance of the Partnership and its work. 5. Interactive Activities throughout the event Due to the popularity of the Video Box last year, we invited Matt LeVine from Mosaic Clubhouse back again to gave participants an opportunity to record their stories and testimonies. The edited video of these is available to view on DASL’s youtube channel at http://tinyurl.com/jodk9as Showing what local disabled people feel about Disability Hate Crime in Lambeth. There was an opportunity to watch the videos made last year by Matt; one with the views of members of Mosaic Clubhouse about Hate Crime and one with the stories and testimonies of participants taken in the Video Box. Mark Healey provided the Hate Crime Stall; Hazel Webb provided information about Victim Support’s services and there was information about all the organisations involved in the Partnership displayed. We had T-shirts, wristbands and balloons to give away from MOPAC (the Mayor’s Office on Policing and Crime) to raise awareness of National Hate Crime Awareness Week.
One of the activities on display was the Self-Evident App
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The ‘Self-Evident’ app is a free app that can be used to record and report a hate crime or incident. Attendees at the event were given the opportunity to try out the app to see how works. The app can be downloaded to any android phone or iPhone and enables the user to reliably record and report an incident. It allows a victim or any witnesses to record or video an event while it is happening or record a statement immediately afterwards and send the information to the Police. The information is saved securely and confidentially on the Witness Confident website rather than on the person's phone. The app retains a video log of the time, place and other potentially important information and evidence that could be useful to police investigations. At the click of a button a date-stamped report along with photos can be sent securely, accurately and easily without needing to call 101. We want more people to be aware of this additional tool that can help in reporting hate crime against disabled people. People were encouraged to set up an account so that they could use the App if needed in the future https:// www.witnessconfident.org/ self-evident-app Anne Novis MBE demonstrates the app
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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME ALONG ON THE DAY AND SHARED THEIR STORIES. WE WILL BE ORGANISING ANOTHER EVENT FOR NATIONAL HATE CRIME WEEK IN OCTOBER 2017
The Disability Hate Crime Partnership leads the fight against hate crime against disabled people in Lambeth.
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Member Organisations (December 2016)
Disability Advice Service Lambeth Victim Support Healthwatch Lambeth Lambeth & Southwark Mencap Lambeth Learning Disability People’s Assembly ‘We are 336’ (Lambeth Accord) Age UK Lambeth Lambeth Council Metropolitan Police Service Lambeth Autism Group Lambeth Pan-Disability Forum Voiceability Certitude (Solidarity in a Crisis) Inclusion London Mosaic Clubhouse Lambeth & Southwark MIND 17-24-30
We welcome the support and involvement of other Lambeth organisations working with disabled people. For more information about the Partnership contact either: David Strong (Chair) Director, Disability Advice Service Lambeth Tel: 020 7642 0040 Email: david.strong@disabilitylambeth.org.uk Louise Holden, Community Development Worker (Disabled People) Disability Advice Service Lambeth Tel: 020 7501 8976 Email: lholden@disabilitylambeth.org.uk December 2016