Articles by Connie Bowker

Technology

'Disability hate crime is at the worst level I've experienced it'

In February, while Steven was standing outside a hotel bar in Twickenham, a young man came up to him and asked if he was "legless". Then, in May, while he was in the foyer of a high-end Manchester hotel, a man in his 30s came up to Steven and asked what hand he masturbated with. Two weeks ago in Feltham, two older teenage boys approached Steven and asked if his parents were related, and if "you had a baby would it look like you?". "The incidents have varied from moments of real unkindness to moments when I've felt physically threatened." Steven has not reported any of the incidents to the police as he has no faith they will investigate. "You just feel like you're going to become another statistic rather than that something will actually be done." He feels that hate crime against disabled people is on the rise, pointing to an increasingly polarised Britain and a toxic narrative based on misconceptions about both disability and the benefit system. "People think, 'they've got a blue badge, lots of entitlement, they are abusing the system and getting more than I am'," says Steven, who runs a cultural insight agency which specialises in disability and other marginalised groups. "All these things layer up to this sense of ugliness. It's created this sense of outrage against disabled people." Despite Steven's experiences, official Home Office figures show recorded disability hate crimes in England and Wales fell by 8% in the year to March 2025. Offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police are not included in this year's figures due to changes in how the force records crimes.