Around 80 delegates from across the South West are due to attend the seminar, organised by South Gloucestershire Partnership Against Hate Crime and funded by Safer South Gloucestershire Community Safety and Drugs Partnership. The event will be held at BAWA, Filton between 10.15am and 12 noon.
Those attending include people with learning difficulties and representatives from organisations including the police, housing associations, Victim Support, Mencap, South Glos People First and Avon Fire and Rescue.
Carl Saunders, chair of the South Gloucestershire Partnership Against Hate Crime (PAHC) said: "Nationally, 66 per cent of people with learning difficulties have been regularly abused, with 32 per cent stating that they experience harassment of some type daily or weekly. It is part of our new three-year hate crime strategy to reach out to this vulnerable group in South Gloucestershire.
“This event is focusing on encouraging people with learning difficulties to report hate crime if they are victims of it, and reassuring them about the process they would go through if they did.”
As part of the event the Misfits Production Company will perform a play highlighting the issue.
The central character is a girl with learning difficulties who is harassed on a bus. She talks to her friends about this and it transpires that many of them have been through similar experiences. The second part of the play explores whether or not the girl reports the incident.
The Misfits are the resident theatre company of acta, which has been delivering accessible quality arts projects in and around Bristol for more than 20 years. The company creates and performs original theatre based on their own life experiences.
A hate crime is any offence committed against a person or property which is motivated by the offender’s hatred of people because they are seen as being different. Hate crime criminal legislation covers criminal offences which are based on prejudice against someone’s ethnicity (including citizenship and natural origins), religion, sexual orientation or disability.
When hate is present, but no crime is committed, this constitutes a hate incident. Incidents can be very wide-ranging in nature and can include graffiti, name calling, threats, damage to property, physical assaults, bullying and harassment.
Anyone wanting to report a hate crime/incident should contact the Police on 999 (emergency) or 0845 456 7000 (non-emergency).
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