British Paralympians’ success in 2012 brought celebrity status but has done little for the daily life of the disability community.
Disability abuse and hate crimes are unacceptable and against the law. Yet it appears that this form of discrimination is increasing in the UK as outlined in the latest poll undertaken by a leading disability charity, Scope. LPF has received complaints from a number of disabled fans in the last few seasons who have experienced verbal abuse at some grounds based on their disability. This seems to be more prevalent where away disabled fans have no choice but to sit amongst home fans with 28 of the 92 professional clubs in the Premier and Football League still not providing dedicated disabled away fans facilities. A recent independent poll showed that 14% of football fans had witnessed disability related abuse in the form of chanting aimed at other fans and 15% had witnessed disability related abuse aimed at match officials or players. In total, 92% of fans see disability related abuse and discrimination as unacceptable and 89% of football fans say it is important to do more to tackle abuse towards disabled people.
There are further studies on this topic available at: http://www.scope.org.uk/news/paralympics-legacy-0
or please see news articles from the ‘The Guardian’ and ‘The Independent newspapers at:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/aug/29/paralympics-legacy-disabled-people or http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/attacks-on-disabled-people-still-rife–one-year-on-from-paralympics-triumph-8788521.html