Disabled people being treated like children, says MP

THE voices of disabled people who have suffered online abuse are often not heard, according to Warrington North MP Helen Jones.
Technology companies treat them the same as children.
Ms Jones, chairman of the Parliamentary petition select committee was leading a debate on the issue of online abuse experienced by disabled people.
The committee has taken formal evidence from not only disabled people but also the police, technology companies, charities and others.
Ms Jones said while a lot of excellent work has been done on both hate crime and internet safety, the voices of disabled people were often not heard. When asked about disabled people the technology companies often provided answers about children.
She added:: “Most disabled people are not children; they are adults who are able to make their own choices and decisions, and they deserve to have their voices heard. What we found out when talking to them was truly shocking.
“When using the internet they face the most horrendous abuse – not occasionally, but day in, day out.
“Such abuse is, frankly, a stain on our society. Disabled people are regularly told that they should have been aborted. They are targeted with requests for explicit images. They are told they are benefit scroungers or fraudsters, and a drain on our society. That leads to a culture of fear among many disabled people who post about their lives online.
“People even join Facebook groups that disabled people use for support so that they can steal images and transform them into so-called jokes or memes online.”
Part of the solution, the MP said, was to ensure the promotion of a more positive image of disable people, who after all, make up 20 per cent of the population, and 19 per cent of the working population.
The reporting mechanisms used by social media companies were found to be “not accessible” to disabled people.
“Shockingly, we heard again and again that when disabled people have reported hate speech, often nothing has been done. Our inquiry has led us to conclude that social media companies do not employ enough moderators, or enough suitably trained moderators, to deal with this abuse. Given how much profit they are making, that is frankly scandalous.
“Social media companies need clear rules, policies, mechanisms and settings that are accessible to all disabled people. They also need to be much more proactive in removing hate speech from their sites and reporting criminal offences, including the theft of images, which was one of the worst things that we found – particularly images of children that were used to create so-called memes or jokes.
“What is clear is that self-regulation has comprehensively failed disabled people in the same way that it has failed many other people who use the internet.
“We need a new law that is fit for the digital age, which is why we have recommended that the Government bring forward legislation as a matter of urgency and consult disabled people before doing so.
“The Government should make disability hate crime an offence in the same way that crime against someone due to their race or religion is an offence.”