Disability Awareness Month: Disregard Targets - Hate crimes against people with disabilities

This program will be held in conjunction with the Indiana Alliance Against Hate and will include an informative presentation around hate crime statistics, the difference between a hate crime vs a hate incident, and heighten the awareness and recognition of hate crimes committed against people with disabilities.

Currently, Indiana is still one of a handful of states that does not have any Hate or Bias Crime laws/legislative protections in effect. Crimes against people with disabilities motivated by hate are the most unreported hate crimes of any group or population because they manifest unlike hate crimes committed against any other marginalized/minority group. 

Persons with disabilities who are targets of hate typically have these crimes mislabeled or identified as “abuse” or “neglect.” As a result, these crimes typically go unrecognized as hate crimes by law enforcement and go unreported as such. This joint program between INSILC and IAAH will expand beyond disability and also and also address hate across multiple, marginalized identities.