Most if not all of us will have grown up with the saying “Sticks and Stones” and some may still believe that being called names really doesn’t hurt. But what’s it like being called names on a daily basis simply because you’re different?
Mark Williams, Coordinator with the Combating Hate Crime project at Safer Wales knows all about it. “For me it was because I held my boyfriend’s hand in public. We were passing a building site late at night when we were called names. It’s funny it’s not the first (or last) time but somehow that one stuck with me.”
“It can be far worse for disabled people. There’s the high profile case of Fiona Pilkington whose family suffered years of taunting. Feeling her reports were ignored by Leicestershire Police and with no possible solution Fiona tragically took her own life and that of her daughter Francecca”.
We’d like to think things are better here in Wales but Simon Green from Bridgend showed what life is like for a Wheelchair user and other people with disabilities in the Week In Week Out documentary which was subsequently shown on Panorama in February this year.
Simon commented “my memorable incident happened last Halloween when I’d been out with a big group of friends, we were all dressed up and had been partying for most of the day. It was the early hours of the morning and there were just a few of us left. I left the group to get the key for the accessible toilet from the bar when I man in his 20s approached me and said “I F*****g hate cripples, you should all be gassed” then repeated over and over “I’m going to knock you out” “I’m going to knock you out”. That totally ruined what had been a brilliant night out and whenever I think of Halloween I’m reminded of that incident.”
And although years of work have been carried out to eradicate racism, Cardiff Race Equality First report in 2009 evidenced that many Cardiff residents face being abused simply because of the colour of their skin or the religious garments they wore.
The issue is that these cases of verbal abuse so often lead to further attacks and vandalism of a person’s property.
“We really need people to report what is happening to them early so we can avoid cases getting out of hand or victims feeling abandoned by the system.” Mark explained “one of the biggest hurdles we face is actually getting people to come forward and report what has happened to them. While we encourage everyone to report every incident to the police we recognise that not everybody is comfortable with speaking to the police or able to visit a police station. “
In July 2009 Safer Wales launched “Report Hate-Safer Wales”, a unique system here in Wales, developed in partnership with the four Welsh police services but with details only being passed to the police where people agree. Even if consent is not given Safer Wales will still pass on brief information on a regular basis to help the police make a difference in our communities.
“We’ve achieved a lot in our first year with reports coming in from across Wales covering cases ranging from verbal abuse to knife attacks. But we could do so much more and want anybody who has suffered verbal abuse and of course more extreme attacks to report to us here at Safer Wales.”
Report Hate- Safer Wales reporting forms can be found across Wales but people may also report online at www.saferwales.com.
