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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Who could hate the disabled?

450 mm by 450 mm (18 in by 18 in) Handicapped Accessible sign, made to the specifications of the 2004 edition of Standard Highway Signs (sign D9-6), Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation, US Government. Colors are from http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno-colorspec.htm (Pantone Blue 294), converted to RGB by http://www.reeddesign.co.uk/test/pantone2rgb.html. The outside border has a width of 1 (1 mm) and a color of black so it shows up; in reality, signs have no outside border.Image via WikipediaOne might ask, "Who could hate the disabled?"

Thanks to Natalie and using Swivel's data visualization tools with data from the FBI, we can look at bias motivated hate crimes, hate crimes biased against the disabled, and even compare anti-physical and anti-mental bias.

A few interesting notes:
Intimidation
There are 3 times more hate crimes of intimidation from anti-physical bias than anti-mental bias. Simple assault happens about twice as much as intimidation. Aggravated assault is a close third.

Larceny and Theft
About 10 times more hate crimes involving larceny and theft are committed by those with anti-mental disabilities than those with anti-physical bias.

Threat to the Disabled
Generally, the disabled can relax. There was a total of 54 victims, about 100 times less than victims of hate crimes motivated by racial bias.

Disability Hate Crimes
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1 comment:

Vicki said...

Maybe these attackers don't really hate people with disabilities. Maybe they just target people they think are vulnerable and cannot put up much of a fight.

Hmm. That sounds rather cowardly.