Two teenagers have been convicted of harassing a man with learning and physical disabilities in Brighton and Hove.
The case was one of three incidents that have ended in successful court actions from April to September.
The Brighton and Hove City Council partnership community safety team said that it was starting a campaign to tackle and reduce hate incidents against disabled people.
It said that there were 19 such incidents reported to the team from April to September.
Councillor Dee Simson, the council’s cabinet member for community safety and inclusion, said: “Disability hate crime is often hidden and not much discussed, yet it can have devastating results.
“Occasionally we hear about these in the national media.
“Stories such as that of David Askew who collapsed and died after being harassed by youths for 17 years because he had learning difficulties are truly shocking and we all have a duty to stop this happening.
“Together with our partners we want to reduce and deal with hate crime and explore how we can support and work with victims better.
“We are aiming to improve the reporting of such incidents and develop good practice in dealing with them.”
The Brighton and Hove Federation of Disabled People is hosting an afternoon of discussions, workshops, drop-ins and celebrations to mark the International Day of Disabled People.
All are welcome to the events which are at Hove Town Hall from 3pm to 8pm.
During the afternoon there will be a workshop exploring the issues around disability hate crime.
It will be an opportunity to find out about the work being done in the city to prevent, tackle and reduce hate incidents and improve trust and confidence in minority communities.
If your on crutches or use a wheelchair “sometimes” your looked on as “lazy” “workshy” “a burden on the country” & “an easy target”. Some Disabled people I have talked to that were begging because were unable to get sufficient benefits to cope were attacked, knocked our of wheelchair, and spat on because some other homeless and unemployed people think all disabled people get more “money” and if seen begging or homeless makes narrow minded people hate them even more! I was shocked but now I get it. I have been bullied for and picked on for many years, with about 12 police serials 3 broken windows all because I had to make a complaint about very loud noisr abuse from 3 kids with adhd, and the powers that be housrd me below these people with zero sound
proofing… lost a large bit of text sorry. We disabled victims need a place 247 we can go for safety in Brighton. with respect to voluntere pcso’s get no respect and all accusations get denied. even cctv evidence is often ignored. housing “officers” powerless, brighton council noise abuse powerless against noisey kids. the victim has to move out everytime in my experience. would be great to go to some outreach meetings for disabled people facing abuse.