Dozens of leaflets were handed out to shoppers about ‘hate crime’ which is when people are targeted because of their sexual orientation, gender, race, religion, faith or disability.
Rachel Coates, Self Advocacy Team Leader from Advocacy for All, an independent charity which organised the event, said she is continually being made aware that people with learning disabilities are being targeted because of their disabilities.
“Only a few days ago, I learnt that a group of teenagers in Sutton High Street had been deliberately dropping litter and asking a person with a learning disability to pick it all up. Such behaviour is not acceptable and needs to stop,” she said.
Police in Sutton have launched a pioneering initiative to encourage people with disabilities to take a full and active part in their local community and to report hate crime, which is widely accepted as being under-reported across the country.
The initiative involves police officers in Sutton receiving training from external organisations that work with people with disabilities and vulnerabilities including Sutton Mencap, Orchard Hill College, Victim Support and the Sutton Centre for Independent Living & Learning (SCILL).
Police are also launching a mentoring scheme to team up individual neighbourhood officers with people with disabilities. Around 30 organisations, which specialise in supporting people with disabilities and vulnerabilities, have been putting forward candidates for mentoring.
Plans are also underway to distribute 10,000 support cards to people with disabilities to put in their Freedom pass travel wallets to show whenever they have contact with a police officer. The card will explain their disability and what this may mean for their behaviour.
Disability support days are also being planned at Sutton Life Centre during Hate Crime week in October.