Equality and Human Rights Commission

The findings from our formal inquiry called Hidden in plain sight shows that disability harassment is a daily experience for many disabled people.

People told us they routinely experience different forms of harassment such as name calling, physical violence, bullying and cyber-bullying, sexual harassment, domestic violence and financial exploitation.

Some disabled people say they just accept it as inevitable and live with it. Others try to rearrange their lives to avoid abusive situations. Often low level incidents escalate and, tragically, sometimes end in torture and death.  Everyone we spoke to feels it damages their lives.

Our evidence shows that for many disabled people we are a long way from a Wales that treats everyone with dignity and respect. In 2009/10 19% of disabled adults were crime victims in Wales. This amounts to around 100,000 people.
Ensuring the human rights of everyone in Wales are protected is an urgent task. There are unique opportunities to make progress in Wales.

The Welsh Government has identified tackling disability hate crime as a top equality priority and we have new equality duties which will enable public authorities to prioritise and deliver on this issue.