Promoting positive perceptions of disability and preventing hate crime

Date Published: 29 Oct 2024
Person smiling at camera with a big screen behind them which reads Love in Action Disability Hate Crime and has the Caritas Salford logo displayed

On Saturday 19 October, at Sacred Heart Parish Centre, Gorton, our charity delivered another event (you can read more about a previous event we held earlier this year too on this page on our website: https://www.caritassalford.org.uk/no-place-for-hate/) serving to promote a positive perception of disability and minimise hate crime in the city.

Here, our accessibility coordinator, Minna, tells us more…

Before I tell you about the event at Sacred Heart, I want to share with you another experience I had recently. I was asked to represent Caritas at an external conference and informed them of my access requirements in advance and so attended hoping that I would be able to join in as I’d planned. However, when I arrived, I found this was not the case.

Although not intentional, I was discriminated against.

As a person with access needs, I was excluded since no measures were introduced in time to enable my participation.

This sort of exclusion rarely happens because someone has that intent, but when the needs of people are not sufficiently considered in the planning and organisation of events, activities and services, it does happen. It therefore continues a cycle of discrimination, exclusion and marginalisation of people, failing to recognise their human dignity.

I was pleased that our event to promote positive perceptions of disability and inclusion at Sacred Heart was different. As far as I’m aware, all access needs that had been disclosed were catered for in one way or another. The venue was physically accessible, food included gluten-free options, there were BSL/English interpreters and live captions and transcripts available. Owing to one person explaining they have face-blindness, we also encouraged people to wear name badges.

Shot taken from the back of a large room with people seated around tables in chairs. They are looking at a stage which has a screen that says Rhoads Bank Choir and has a BSL interpreter standing on it too.  In front of the stage on the floor the choir are grouped together and singing, all wearing black

The event included input by seven different individuals/groups, all focusing on some aspect of accessibility need and experience of discrimination. The importance of being able to participate and contribute fully was highlighted in positive feedback.

Enabling people to tell their stories, sharing their skills, loves and interests reminded me of how important this is as part of healing, something that has long-since been understood in the therapeutic realm. By coming together in a joyful celebration of difference there was an opportunity for a form of healing.

During the event Dr Paul Whittaker OBE spoke very powerfully about how “society is becoming increasingly tribal. Rather than labelling each other as members of individual groups such as, ‘the Deaf community’, or ‘the gay community’ or even ‘the dog walking community’, we should just recognise each other as people”.

Dr Paul commented afterwards that he was pleased that I was nodding my head as he was saying this and I confided in him that I’ve become increasingly worried that the word “community” is at risk of becoming a euphemism for people that are “others”. It has long since been established that “otherness” establishes fear, and fear can lead to hate. There is no place for hate – and that was the point of this event.

Nadia Clarke shared her experiences of people continuously making assumptions about her that are just not true: that she is rich because her house was large (funded by grants to make it disability accessible); that she has a learning disability because she does not use her voice and needs 24 hours PA support (due to cerebral palsy). Misunderstanding is again something that leads to hate. So I was especially pleased that during the break and at the end of the session people were approaching Nadia directly to talk and ask questions. I sent a BSL interpreter over to support her at one point but was told he was not needed. Perhaps that highlights my own assumptions coming into play.

Rach Horne-White joined on behalf of autistic artist Imogen and shared some of her art and a video explaining how Imogen expresses her understanding of the world around her. I really appreciated how Rach curates and explains Imogen’s artwork, especially the piece of a crying child, knowing that Imogen doesn’t cry and was obviously trying to understand tears. It made me think that is what we are all doing there, trying to understand how other people experience life.

It can be difficult to understand the lived experience of another person, so I am very grateful that Sarah Emmott joined us. She spoke about her experience as someone with ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and I was really struck by the metaphor that she used that being neurodiverse is like being asked to wear clothes that are varyingly too small throughout the day, never feeling comfortable, never being able to relax and not understanding why clothes have to be too small anyway. I’ve already used this in training since.

Fr Kevin Murphy spoke on the topic of language and how language has changed over the years and what started out as acceptable vocabulary, often medical terms, become used as weapons of hatred and thus become rejected. It is a sad truth that this has in fact caused people to be fearful of causing offence and therefore topics such as illness, impairment and disability become taboo. He graced us with a song by Eric Bogle’s “Rosie” that was an unexpected last-minute bonus but extremely fitting. It was a hot topic during the lunch queue with many people saying they became emotional.

The Rhodes-Bank Choir, a group facilitated by Pennine Mencap, really did bring some energy to the room before and after lunch. I was touched by the introduction where it was explained that the choir was formed on the back of some of the now members voicing frustration that there were no accessible opportunities for them to express their love of music. I was pleased to find that several people had expressed invites to them for future occasions.

I am so grateful to all people who attended to show support on the day. More than 100 people on a cold October Saturday, the first day of half term, is humbling, but if anything, it tells me how important accessibility is to people.

We need to keep the topic open and supportive so that people who have access needs aren’t excluded.

To find out more about our accessibility service, visit this page on our website: https://www.caritassalford.org.uk/service/accessibility-service/

Find out more about other forthcoming events on our website by visiting this page: https://www.caritassalford.org.uk/events/

Close up of wrist wearing a white bracelet which says Lets End Hate Crime dot com

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