Ask disabled people about hostility and you hear the same catalogue: names shouted from cars, being mimicked, mobility aids grabbed “as a laugh”, coins thrown, online dogpiles, the neighbour whose harassment makes home a siege. Much of this is crime. Almost none of it is reported. And the gap between those two facts is exactly what lets it continue.
What the law calls it
England and Wales law treats hostility based on disability as an aggravating factor: under section 66 of the Sentencing Act 2020 (which carried forward the older Criminal Justice Act provision), a court must treat an offence more seriously — and say so in open court — where it was motivated by, or the offender demonstrated, hostility based on disability.
So there is rarely a separate offence called “disability hate crime”. There is assault, harassment, criminal damage, threatening behaviour, malicious communications — plus the uplift. Which means one practical thing for you: when you report, say the words “disability hate crime”, because that flag is what triggers the recording, the uplift, and the specialist handling.
The forms it takes
- Street harassment — abuse, mimicry, spitting, being filmed for mockery.
- Violence and “pranks” — chairs tipped, canes kicked, assistance dogs distracted or hurt.
- Neighbour campaigns — noise, damage, complaints weaponised, the slow war that makes people move house.
- Mate crime — “friends” who exploit, steal from, or control a disabled person under cover of friendship. This one is under-named and devastating, and it is still crime: theft, fraud, coercion.
- Online abuse — threats and targeted harassment are criminal online exactly as offline.
People report the assault and stay quiet about the slur that came with it. Report the slur too — it is the difference between a crime and a hate crime, and the record follows the offender.
How to report — all the routes
- 999 in an emergency; 101 otherwise. Textphone and Relay UK work for both, and you can register with emergencySMS to text 999.
- Online: most forces take crime reports on their websites, and True Vision (report-it.org.uk) is the national portal built specifically for hate crime — useful when you do not want a phone call.
- Third-party reporting centres — libraries, advice centres, some charities — will report with you or for you. Ask your council or local disability organisation where yours are.
- Anonymously via Crimestoppers if you fear reprisals.
- For housing-linked harassment, report to your landlord or council antisocial behaviour team as well as the police — and if agencies fail to act on repeated reports, invoke the Community Trigger (ASB case review), which forces a multi-agency review. It exists precisely because repeated “low-level” incidents against disabled people were being dismissed one at a time.
Building the record
- Keep an incident diary: date, time, place, what was said and done, witnesses. Patterns convict where single incidents do not.
- Save everything digital — screenshots with usernames and URLs, voicemails, doorbell footage.
- Ask for the crime reference number every time, and ask for the incident to be flagged as a disability hate crime. Check it was.
- Ask about special measures if it goes to court — screens, video links and support for vulnerable and intimidated witnesses exist and are routinely granted.
- Get support alongside the process: Victim Support runs a free 24/7 line, and local hate crime advocacy services exist in many areas. You do not have to have reported to police to use them.
If the response is poor
Push back. Ask for the officer’s supervisor; use the force’s complaints process; escalate to the Independent Office for Police Conduct if needed. Under the Victims’ Code you are entitled to updates, to have your needs assessed, and to be referred to support. “We’ve logged it” is a beginning, not an outcome.
And where the hostility happens in a shop, venue or service — staff joining in, or standing by — that is also an Equality Act matter against the business, alongside anything criminal. Our complaints guide covers that track.