The message from Stop Hate UK is, don’t suffer in silence if you are experiencing hate crime. There is now a confidential helpline open 24 hours a day every day of the year offering help and support. Una Morris explains.
Stop Hate UK is a national charity providing independent and confidential support to people affected by all forms of hate crime. Stop Learning Disability Hate Crime is a 24 hour helpline for people in England and Wales to report learning disability hate crime and receive support. It was launched on 29 January 2013.
The helpline has already demonstrated its worth by the number of people accessing support from the service, with 62 of 114 contacts between January and June 2013 reporting incidents. We are also able to offer support to people who have no new incident to report; for example, 32 of our contacts were from repeat users of the service who wished to access support relating to an incident they had previously reported or to give an update on the progress of their case. Two people requested support of a kind the helpline does not offer and the remaining contacts were from agencies requesting information on the service.
Threatening behaviour
Many different kinds of incidents were reported, including criminal offences. Examples include physical assaults, sexual assaults, criminal damage, harassment and hate-motivated anti-social behaviour. The two incidents most often reported were threatening behaviour and verbal abuse.
Incidents happened in the street, on or around public transport, in shopping centres, day centres, and also in victims’ own homes. People with learning difficulties are often repeatedly targeted by the same people and sometimes by lots of different people. Perpetrators are sometimes strangers but often the perpetrator and victim know each other.
We have also received a number of reports of ‘mate crime’, in which a victim is targeted, befriended, exploited and taken advantage of by a perpetrator. This might include financial abuse or sexual exploitation or moving into someone’s home when this is not wanted. Mate crime is notoriously under-reported with the victim seeing the perpetrator as a friend.
Victims of mate crime usually have a choice as to who they associate with making it difficult or impossible for others to help them. We strongly believe in autonomy and in the rights of victims to make decisions about their lives and the incidents they may be experiencing. By working with victims and listening carefully to their experiences, we can help them to understand that what is happening to them is wrong and empower them to take steps to access additional support.
One case involved a man with learning difficulties who was targeted by a man he was friendly with at college. On a number of occasions the ‘friend’ asked the man to lend him money, saying he was having problems paying his rent or buying food. The man wanted to help the person he believed to be his friend and handed over cash each time he was asked. By the time he contacted Stop Learning Disability Hate Crime he had given away several hundred pounds and had not received any of it back. Eventually he began to see himself as a victim of mate crime by his so-called friend. This man gave consent for Stop Hate UK to tell other agencies about what had happened.
Callers to Stop Learning Disability Hate Crime are offered more than just a safe and confidential space to talk about their experiences. We are able to make referrals to the police if they are happy for them to be involved. If a caller does not want to involve the police, for whatever reason, Stop Hate UK can make anonymous referrals without identifying the caller. The organisation’s Hate Crime Advocate is able to offer follow-up advocacy support to callers and make referrals to other organisations in England and Wales, depending on where the caller is based and their needs.
Targeted
Stop Learning Disability Hate Crime isn’t just for people with learning difficulties who have experienced an incident themselves. The helpline is also able to support people who have been targeted because someone mistakenly thinks they have learning difficulties or because they are related to or friends with someone who has. We can support the friends, family members and carers of people experiencing hate crime or agencies working with people experiencing it. Where someone calls on behalf of someone else, we always ask for the victim’s consent to make referrals.
Stop Hate UK encourages everyone, whether or not they have a learning difficulty, to report anything they see which may be a hate crime.
The real value of the helpline, and what makes it unique, is that it is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. This means that whatever time of day or night, people affected by learning disability hate crime have someone to talk to about what they are experiencing and how they feel. Of the 114 contacts received by Stop Learning Disability Hate Crime between January and June 2013, 49 were received outside the hours 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, demonstrating the need for an out-of-hours service. Typically, over 85 per cent of all calls to Stop Hate UK are answered within four rings.
Since launching the helpline Stop Hate UK has developed a range of accessible publicity materials to promote the service, including wristbands, A3 easy-read posters in English and Welsh and smaller easy-read cards. We aim to make sure that everyone in England and Wales knows about the service because anyone can be affected by learning disability hate crime.
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Patron – Baroness Doreen Lawrence OBE
Ambassador – Adrian Derbyshire, Great Britain Athlete
Stop Hate UK is a registered charity, Registration Number 1062692.
Email: una@stophateuk.org
Twitter: @_umm_
Main office: 0113 293 5100
Mobile: 07951 536 235
The helpline number is 0808 802 1155. Calls are free from landlines and most UK mobiles.
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