Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Attacked for just being different
BBC2, 9pm “IT is very rare you can be in the public eye without someone pointing, laughing, staring, shouting or name calling.”
Andrea has dwarfism and is routinely treated with contempt, with people taking photos of her and hurling vile verbal abuse.
She’s had cigarette ash flicked at her, had her legs kicked out from under her and was once kicked in the head after a man was dared to do it by his mate.
Sadly, disability hate crime is extremely common. There are 14 million disabled people in Britain and last year police recorded over 8,000 disability hate crimes.
And these were just the incidents that were reported. Many disabled people face abuse and aggression as a part of everyday life.
This is a shocking and thoughtprovoking film, featuring horrific and sad personal testimony from a wide range of people.
Among them is Hannah, a young nursing assistant with cerebral palsy that mainly affects her walking.
She tells how a man in a nightclub attacked her, asking “why’s she walking like that?” before throwing a drink and punching her sister.
She says: “I think when some people see difference, it scares them.
“They don’t understand the unknown. So they poke fun at it.”
Meanwhile, Ailsa, who was a nurse before a road traffic accident led to her using a wheelchair, says she was forced to move after a vicious campaign of harassment from neighbours.
She says: “I don’t understand it. Just because we are different.
“The only conclusion I’m left with is that I didn’t fit in.”