a–z of learning disability

‘You are a parasite on the productive classes’: online disablist hate speech in austere times

“…Findings presented by Macdonald (2015) has also recognised the commonplace nature of 'hate incidents' such as 'verbal abuse' for many disabled people. Indeed, hate speech, or verbal abuse as it is so often termed, is suggested to occur regularly on the university campus (Munn 2015), on public transport (Olsen, Pepe, and Redfearn 2017), and on the street (Brookes and Cain 2015;Smith 2015). Among others (EHRC 2012; Quarmby 2011; Roulstone and Mason-Bish 2013), these findings demonstrate that hate expressions have become a mundane intrusion to the lives of many disabled people, a 'constant drip, drip, nag, nag of the so-called "low-level harassment' (EHRC 2011).…”