0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:04 > 0:00:06I'm Adam Pearson and people hate me because I'm disabled.
0:00:06 > 0:00:08I've been called "Quasimodo", "Elephant Man"...
0:00:08 > 0:00:10'Because my face looks different...'
0:00:10 > 0:00:12.."hideous creature"... "Disfigured".
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Try to rip my face off.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18And it's not just me under attack.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Kicked and punched and spat on.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26I randomly got hit. I realised my nose was constantly bleeding.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30In 2013, there were an estimated 62,000 disability hate crimes
0:00:30 > 0:00:32in England and Wales.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34"Scary","demon-looking"..."freak"...
0:00:34 > 0:00:37But only a handful of them were prosecuted.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39The system's just screwed.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42These crimes are going under-reported, under-recorded
0:00:42 > 0:00:45and under the radar and I want to find out why.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47I'm almost looking for a fight.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50- Do you know what disablism is? - No, I don't.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Do you think I'm a bad guy? How bad could I be?
0:00:53 > 0:00:56Why is there prejudice against disabled people?
0:00:56 > 0:00:57You do have to put the barriers up.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59I have to say, I thought he was wearing a mask.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Whoa, whoa, whoa.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05Why is it not being taken as seriously as other hate crimes?
0:01:05 > 0:01:08YouTube don't seem to see the bloody problem either.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10Police should have taken that seriously.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13If this had been about race, they would have been taken straight down.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15And what can I do to change things?
0:01:15 > 0:01:19This is a whole room full of people judging me.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21Intelligent and charming can only take me so far,
0:01:21 > 0:01:25but intelligent, charming and funny - that's a winner.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38I'm Adam Pearson. You might recognise me from the telly.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40I've got one of those faces.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42I live at home in Croydon with my parents
0:01:42 > 0:01:44and my twin brother, Neil.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52I'm an actor and recently worked with Scarlett Johannson. Jealous?
0:01:52 > 0:01:54You should be.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57- What's your best feature? - I like my hands.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00I have a condition called Neurofibromatosis type 1,
0:02:00 > 0:02:02which, for me, means noncancerous tumours
0:02:02 > 0:02:04grow on nerve endings on my face.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06I'm physically disabled and disfigured,
0:02:06 > 0:02:08but I make most of myself.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11I think you need to work with what you've got
0:02:11 > 0:02:13and I'd be an idiot not to.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17I get manicured, I'm partial to the odd facial...
0:02:19 > 0:02:23And ultimately, it's all leading to getting my boobs done.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26I can laugh. I've lived with this for a long time.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28There you are in the garden.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32My condition was first diagnosed when I was five years old.
0:02:32 > 0:02:33There you go.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35You didn't even have the bump on your head in that one,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37so you must have been I don't know...
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Less than a year, I would say.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43I am quite big for less than a year.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46We just thought he had a bump on his head,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51and then, when the bump kept getting bigger, they diagnosed NF.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54My identical twin Neil has the same condition
0:02:54 > 0:02:56but only my tumours grow on my face.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00There's Christmas again.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02- Karaoke.- Boom!
0:03:02 > 0:03:04Born for stardom.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07We went back to see this plastic surgeon.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12He said, "He will grow, the lumps won't,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16"and when he's 17, he'll look like everybody else."
0:03:17 > 0:03:21Oh... I don't know how I didn't head-butt him.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23One, because he was so patronising and two,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26because he couldn't have been more wrong, could he?
0:03:26 > 0:03:30- Is that the day you started school, secondary school?- Yeah.
0:03:31 > 0:03:38Yup. Day one of the longest 1,800... and however many days of my life.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41I used to live my life by terms,
0:03:41 > 0:03:45because somehow it didn't sound quite so bad then.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49- As opposed to five years. - Yeah!- 15 terms!- Yeah.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52You sort of said, you know, instead of saying
0:03:52 > 0:03:55two and a half years, you sort of said seven terms.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58It didn't sound quite so long.
0:04:00 > 0:04:01Quite so traumatic.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05How old were you there?
0:04:05 > 0:04:07Definitely at the sixth form because that's
0:04:07 > 0:04:09- when I started having to buy ties. - Yeah.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Also, I didn't really have anything to celebrate at secondary school.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15- Yeah.- Apart from the day I left.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19I was badly bullied at school and it was miserable for me.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21As I developed, so did my disfigurement.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25And along with that came other people's problems with it.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28These days, I try to ignore people's stares.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32When we're out and about do you ever notice people giving me kind of...
0:04:32 > 0:04:35the eyes or...laughing at me?
0:04:35 > 0:04:38All the time. The thing that irritates me the most is
0:04:38 > 0:04:41if people aren't content with just looking,
0:04:41 > 0:04:42they have to tap all their friends,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45then everybody's got to turn round and have a look.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48And that's when I actually turn round and say something.
0:04:48 > 0:04:54- Yeah. So, it does kind of piss you off?- Yes, I'm sorry, but it does.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02I understand that people have natural curiosity,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06but it isn't always easy to live with people's stares.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12And watch what happens when I sit on a busy bus.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Notice how nobody sits anywhere near me, not even on the seats behind.
0:05:23 > 0:05:24Avoiding me is one thing,
0:05:24 > 0:05:29but overcompensating can sometimes be worse.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34On a night out in Croydon, I wore a wire to capture what happened.
0:05:34 > 0:05:35Evening. You all right?
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Not a lot, as it goes. A few people recognise me from my movie...
0:05:46 > 0:05:48..but watch out for this drunk dude.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55You see, being disabled makes me public property.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Some strangers hugged me and patronise me.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11And elsewhere, other disabled people face this ignorance, too.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13How are you?
0:06:13 > 0:06:16'Dan, an ex-soldier who uses a wheelchair,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18'knows just how it feels.'
0:06:18 > 0:06:22- It's more curiosity I get than anything.- Yeah.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25I've been called meals-on-wheels, big-legs McGee.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28You know, and I'll laugh at it, you know.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32But the one word I do hate and it makes my skin crawl...
0:06:33 > 0:06:35..is the word "cripple".
0:06:35 > 0:06:38'And before we know it, ignorance is right in our faces.'
0:06:38 > 0:06:41WOMAN:
0:06:41 > 0:06:44No, thank you.
0:06:44 > 0:06:45- I'm sorry.- Give us a wheelie!
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Yeah, I have prosthetic legs, but imagine how hard it is
0:07:02 > 0:07:04to walk when you're drunk normally.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Try doing that in legs you can't control.
0:07:08 > 0:07:09Oh, yeah.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13I haven't got my legs with me this evening.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15I'm sorry.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27HE MOUTHS
0:07:27 > 0:07:28Awkward!
0:07:28 > 0:07:31- I was going to do exactly the same thing!- Yeah, yeah.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35I get it a lot, just random people always come up to me.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39There's quite a thin line between inquisitive, patronising,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42and then being a dick.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Whereabouts does, "Do you want a wheelie?" sit on that line for you?
0:07:45 > 0:07:50My coping mechanism with my injury is,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54like you said, to take the piss out of it. To take the mick.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57A lot of disabled people learn from a young age to use
0:07:57 > 0:08:00humour as a defence mechanism. I know I did.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Really good to meet you, man.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04But some things just aren't funny.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Hate crimes and hate incidents I've experienced.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13Classics are "spastic", "Elephant Man", "Aw, look at his face."
0:08:13 > 0:08:15"Does he know it isn't Halloween?"
0:08:15 > 0:08:17"What time's the freak show?"
0:08:17 > 0:08:20I had a guy in a club in Brighton once think
0:08:20 > 0:08:24I was wearing a mask and come up and try and rip my face off.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28"What kind of person gives birth to someone like this?"
0:08:28 > 0:08:30"Yes, he is an inspiration...
0:08:30 > 0:08:32"for horror films!"
0:08:32 > 0:08:34"Adam Pearson in entertainment, that's a joke,
0:08:34 > 0:08:38"unless you're playing the Hunchback Of Notre Dame."
0:08:38 > 0:08:39"Hideous creature."
0:08:45 > 0:08:49I've faced this kind of prejudice all my life, starting at school.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55- How you doing, man? Good to see you.- You, too.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58My friend Lucas has frontonasal craniofacial dysplasia,
0:08:58 > 0:09:02which means he has a facial disfigurement.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05He, too, does not have the fondest memories of his school days.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09What's your first memory of someone saying something to you
0:09:09 > 0:09:11- about how you look?- It was...
0:09:11 > 0:09:15My very first memory was my first day at primary school.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19This girl came up to me and asked me, she went,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22"What's wrong with your face?"
0:09:22 > 0:09:24And I didn't have an answer for that.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27How bad did things get for you at school?
0:09:27 > 0:09:32The worst incident that I had was where one boy had me
0:09:32 > 0:09:35pinned to the ground with his foot upon my head.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39I've also been kicked and punched and spat on, even,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41during my primary school.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44And how did that make you feel, as a kid?
0:09:44 > 0:09:47As a kid, it was frightening.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51I felt like I was incredibly unlucky that it was me
0:09:51 > 0:09:55that had ended up with this and why is it that nobody else
0:09:55 > 0:09:59had got this and why just me, that sort of thing.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Were the teachers in any way helpful?
0:10:02 > 0:10:04I know for me, that they weren't.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08I remember one time they put on The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
0:10:08 > 0:10:11in one of my lessons and one of the kids said very loudly,
0:10:11 > 0:10:12"Oh, we're watching Adam,"
0:10:12 > 0:10:15and the teacher clearly heard it because he reacted to it,
0:10:15 > 0:10:17but didn't do anything.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21Were your teachers any more sympathetic to your cause?
0:10:21 > 0:10:23The teachers didn't follow up
0:10:23 > 0:10:26on any negative behaviour that was occurring,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28so it got a lot worse.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31It became that bad that my parents decided they were going to take me
0:10:31 > 0:10:34out of primary school and home-school me.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37- I'm assuming you weren't bullied at home-school?- No.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41OK, just checking and exploring all avenues.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Is this where the negative attitudes
0:10:43 > 0:10:45toward disfigurement starts?
0:10:45 > 0:10:47I believe that the negative attitudes
0:10:47 > 0:10:50are passed on through the generations.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53I know that often the attitudes
0:10:53 > 0:10:55of the parents directly affect
0:10:55 > 0:10:59the attitudes of the children because I've had lots of instances
0:10:59 > 0:11:03where I've been called names and things have been said to me
0:11:03 > 0:11:05that children wouldn't come up with their own.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08For instance, I've been called "Elephant Man"
0:11:08 > 0:11:11and things like that, and I know that six-year-old children
0:11:11 > 0:11:16don't know of that, let alone four-year-olds and three-year-olds.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21- It wasn't on my Christmas list when I was six, that film.- No, no.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23I think that it is criminal activity that's just,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25you know, starting at a younger age.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Talking to Lucas has made me realise that
0:11:29 > 0:11:32if this kind of negative behaviour towards disability
0:11:32 > 0:11:34goes unchecked in schools,
0:11:34 > 0:11:38it will continue to be ignored in the real world.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Prejudice against disabled people is called "disablism".
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Whilst everyone knows the words racism and homophobia,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48I'm beginning to wonder whether disablism
0:11:48 > 0:11:50is an issue people are even aware of.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52I grabbed some unsuspecting
0:11:52 > 0:11:55people on the streets of London to find out.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57Do you know what disablism is?
0:11:57 > 0:11:58No, I don't.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00No.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Not really. Not really, no.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04No. No.
0:12:04 > 0:12:05No, I don't.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09People who are disabled or they're...
0:12:09 > 0:12:11the way that they are.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Sorry, no.
0:12:13 > 0:12:14Next.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Do you what disablism is?
0:12:16 > 0:12:19No, I've never heard of it.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21- Do you know what racism is?- Yes.
0:12:21 > 0:12:22OK, same thing.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25OK, yeah, I understand.
0:12:25 > 0:12:2830 minutes in, and not a single person has nailed it.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31Then a glimmer of hope.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Do you know what disablism is?
0:12:34 > 0:12:36Disablism?
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Is it people that are...
0:12:38 > 0:12:41against people that are disabled?
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Up here. Finally, bring it in.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45No-one's known. Awesome.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47What do you think disablism is?
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Discrimination against disabled people.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51- High five.- That good?- Yeah.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55- Disablism?- Yes.- Is it discrimination against being disabled?
0:12:55 > 0:12:56There we go.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Up here. Yes, get in.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03Well, the results of this survey are in
0:13:03 > 0:13:07and it's not very good.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09Out of everyone we spoke to,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11only three people knew what disablism was,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15and everyone else either didn't know or just told me
0:13:15 > 0:13:19what disability was, and I...I kind of know that already.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22London, you've let me down.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25For only three people out of 18 to have known what it is,
0:13:25 > 0:13:27it's clear that the concept of disablism
0:13:27 > 0:13:30just isn't in the public consciousness.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34Is it just not deemed as important as other forms of prejudice?
0:13:34 > 0:13:38It's so under the radar that only a handful of disability hate crimes
0:13:38 > 0:13:41have hit the headlines in the past 10 years.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Chantelle Richardson - facial disfigurement -
0:13:44 > 0:13:46punched on a night out.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Craig Robins - partially paralysed - attacked by a gang.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57Raymond Atherton - severe learning disabilities - beaten to death.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59Sickening, isn't it?
0:13:59 > 0:14:01These are horrifying disability hate crimes
0:14:01 > 0:14:03and I wonder how many more have taken place
0:14:03 > 0:14:05that didn't make the news.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Right in the middle of looking into all this, I turn on my computer
0:14:14 > 0:14:19to find out I've been the target of a disablist hate incident myself.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23And it pissed me off a little bit!
0:14:23 > 0:14:27I put an interview about a film I was in up on my YouTube page.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29You mentioned before ignorance, and
0:14:29 > 0:14:30I'm sure the movie Under The Skin
0:14:30 > 0:14:34is something that will change those common perceptions.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36At the end of the film, the female lead,
0:14:36 > 0:14:41the alien character, gets set on fire and burnt to death,
0:14:41 > 0:14:45and someone has posted this charming comment about me.
0:14:45 > 0:14:52"What happened to the alien at the end of the film should have happened to him at birth. Lol."
0:14:52 > 0:14:58So, he finds the idea of me being burnt to death at birth hysterical.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03"I'll put "Lol" at the end so people know it's a joke."
0:15:03 > 0:15:05And that is essentially genocide.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10Something very similar happened to this in Germany in the '40s
0:15:10 > 0:15:15and I hear it ended badly, and I hear it's somewhat
0:15:15 > 0:15:19looked down upon now, with the benefit of retrospect.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21This pissed me off.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24I instantly thought, "You bastard."
0:15:24 > 0:15:27I'm not going to let this slide on my own page.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30I e-mail YouTube and they reply.
0:15:30 > 0:15:31Subject - "action taken".
0:15:31 > 0:15:34So I thought, "Ah, amazing!"
0:15:34 > 0:15:36And the e-mail says "We are
0:15:36 > 0:15:40"unable to identify a violation of our community guidelines
0:15:40 > 0:15:44"within your recent report to our safety and abuse tool."
0:15:46 > 0:15:49Nothing bad happened.
0:15:49 > 0:15:50Deny all knowledge.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55YouTube's guidelines are as follows...
0:16:05 > 0:16:08The fact that YouTube have done bugger all stuns me.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11This isn't, kind of, a small company that don't know what
0:16:11 > 0:16:13they're doing and don't understand the law -
0:16:13 > 0:16:17this is a massive international company.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20This makes me think the problem is a lot more higher up
0:16:20 > 0:16:22than I thought it was.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24This is going from me thinking,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28"Well, aren't people silly, don't they need educating, ha-ha-ha-ha."
0:16:28 > 0:16:31"I will be the guy that does it!"
0:16:31 > 0:16:34To thinking the system's just screwed.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39In danger of smashing the screen,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41I step away from the computer
0:16:41 > 0:16:43and head out with my twin brother, Neil.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47You liking my manly cupcake, Neil?
0:16:47 > 0:16:50Yes. A lovely shade of pink.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Do you think the kind of comment I got,
0:16:53 > 0:16:58do you think that violates YouTube's policies?
0:16:58 > 0:16:59This isn't a quiz.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02I'd say it would violate their policies,
0:17:02 > 0:17:06but it's hard to tell what website's policies are.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09What we might see as something that's serious,
0:17:09 > 0:17:14a site like YouTube might not see it with the same level of severity.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17Cos the actual policy is anything that could be
0:17:17 > 0:17:20deemed as offence or harassment aimed at an individual
0:17:20 > 0:17:24on the grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation,
0:17:24 > 0:17:29disability or gender identity shouldn't be done.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31And so I did report it to YouTube
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and they said there was nothing wrong with it.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Then surely, if somebody makes an offensive comment that's aimed at you
0:17:38 > 0:17:43and is purely on grounds of disability, how much more proof
0:17:43 > 0:17:45do you clearly need to demonstrate to YouTube to prove
0:17:45 > 0:17:47that it's a disability hate crime
0:17:47 > 0:17:53and not just somebody making a random comment for a laugh?
0:17:53 > 0:17:56'Neil's right, and I'm not going to let it lie.'
0:17:56 > 0:17:59Are you going to eat that cake or date it?
0:17:59 > 0:18:02That makes no sense. I've literally just picked it up.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07I've been fobbed off by e-mail,
0:18:07 > 0:18:11but I'm going to old school and telephone Google, who own YouTube.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Call me David, as I'm about to take on Goliath!
0:18:15 > 0:18:19I'm almost looking for a fight cos if this had been about race
0:18:19 > 0:18:22or had the N-word in it or what have you,
0:18:22 > 0:18:24it would have been taken straight down.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26So, I'm very much in a kind of...
0:18:26 > 0:18:29"What the fuck?" kind of mood.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37'Thank you for calling Google.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39'If you know the extension
0:18:39 > 0:18:41'of the person you would like to speak with, press 1.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44'If you would like to contact reception,
0:18:44 > 0:18:45'please dial 0.'
0:18:47 > 0:18:50- LINE GOES DEAD - Oh!
0:18:50 > 0:18:52So, it doesn't go through. That's weird.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57So, I want to contact reception, so I'll dial zero.
0:18:59 > 0:19:00Zero.
0:19:02 > 0:19:03And it cuts off.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07And again. Just cuts off.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11HE LAUGHS
0:19:11 > 0:19:14That's absolutely bonkers. That's...
0:19:15 > 0:19:18How do Google not have a receptionist? I mean...
0:19:18 > 0:19:21And this is a company that prides itself intently on goodliness
0:19:21 > 0:19:24and are forward-thinking, all-embracing,
0:19:24 > 0:19:26revolutionary...
0:19:26 > 0:19:29And they can't pick up a telephone.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31That's...insane.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35If only there was some way they could look that up.
0:19:35 > 0:19:36Online maybe.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38HE SIGHS
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Would it be different if the abusive comment was about my ethnicity?
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Over 42,000 people have viewed my YouTube page,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49but as far as I know, I'm the only one seeing the problem.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54But when Liam Stacey tweeted racist comments
0:19:54 > 0:19:56about footballer Fabrice Muamba,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Twitter users across Britain reported it to the police,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02leading to Liam's arrest.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06The public recognised this as a hate crime and were rightly outraged.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10There were 44,480 hate crimes
0:20:10 > 0:20:14recorded in England and Wales between 2013 and 2014.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Yet only 4% of these were recorded as disability hate crimes.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Is this because they weren't happening?
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Or were there many more going unrecorded?
0:20:24 > 0:20:26According to the Home Office's official crime survey
0:20:26 > 0:20:28for England and Wales,
0:20:28 > 0:20:30there were actually an estimated
0:20:30 > 0:20:3362,000 disability hate crimes
0:20:33 > 0:20:34in a similar period.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Hang on!
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Why, then, were there only 1,985 hate crimes
0:20:40 > 0:20:42against disabled people recorded?
0:20:44 > 0:20:47I need to understand why the vast majority
0:20:47 > 0:20:50of disability hate crimes are going unrecognised.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55My mate, Hayden, has twice been the victim of disability hate crime,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58but he wasn't recorded as an official statistic.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00Hayden.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02- Hey, Adam.- How's it going, man? Good to see you.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04'Hayden has Crouzon syndrome.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07'Like me, he's blind in one eye, partially deaf
0:21:07 > 0:21:08'and facially disfigured.'
0:21:08 > 0:21:10Loving the hair, as well.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13'He wears his hair over his eye to try and hide his disfigurement.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16'In a club in Milton Keynes one night,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19'he was pushed over. He believes it's because he looks different.'
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Erm, I randomly got hit and I didn't know... It all happened too fast.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25I blanked out for, like, one second
0:21:25 > 0:21:28and I just looked up and I didn't know what happened.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30Then I realised my nose was constantly bleeding.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33'Hayden reported this incident to the police.'
0:21:33 > 0:21:36- How did the police handle that? - They saw the CCTV.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40They saw some guy, but didn't really do much about it.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42They didn't ask if you were disabled
0:21:42 > 0:21:46or anything that involved the word "disability"?
0:21:46 > 0:21:48They didn't really ask about any disabilities I have.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51'Hayden didn't know that he could report this assault
0:21:51 > 0:21:52'as a disability hate crime.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56'I wonder how many other incidents like this have gone unnoticed.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00'Just last week, Hayden was assaulted again in this nightclub.'
0:22:00 > 0:22:04I asked him what he was doing, and he said something about
0:22:04 > 0:22:07why is my hair like this? So, basically, I just said, "Well..."
0:22:07 > 0:22:09He pushed me after that and I felt the force.
0:22:09 > 0:22:10He'd pushed me quite hard.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12And I said, "What are you doing?"
0:22:12 > 0:22:14And his friends just pulled him back.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17- And that was really the last time I saw him.- Have you reported it?
0:22:17 > 0:22:19No, I just let it go, really.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21I just didn't really bother.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24I didn't think it was that worth it.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26'I suspect many more disabled people like Hayden
0:22:26 > 0:22:30'are just absorbing this abusive behaviour as a fact of life,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32'rather than taking action.'
0:22:32 > 0:22:35And do you think it's cos of your condition and how you look
0:22:35 > 0:22:39that people...tend to give you more aggro
0:22:39 > 0:22:41- than they otherwise possibly would? - Yeah, I think it is.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44That's why I've had a lot of surgery changes in my life
0:22:44 > 0:22:47because I keep trying to make myself NOT look disabled.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50Do you know much about the law surrounding hate crime -
0:22:50 > 0:22:53disability, race, religion, et cetera?
0:22:53 > 0:22:56Erm, I've never been aware of the disability hate crime situation.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59I've always been aware of, like, hate crimes,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02racism and things like that, but not about disabled people.
0:23:04 > 0:23:05'Disability hate crime
0:23:05 > 0:23:08'and the laws around it are just not on people's radar.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10'Not even people who are disabled.'
0:23:12 > 0:23:16And unbelievably, the law itself treats crime towards disabled people
0:23:16 > 0:23:19as less important than other forms of hate crime.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Let me explain - if someone hits me because of my disability,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27then they could get up to six months in prison.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31But if someone hits me because I'm a different race or religion,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35they can get a longer sentence of up to two years.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38This is because a disability hate crime
0:23:38 > 0:23:40is only considered a basic offence,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42whereas race and religious hate crimes
0:23:42 > 0:23:44are considered aggravated offences.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Sound fair? I think not.
0:23:54 > 0:23:55The more I look into all this,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59the more determined I am to make a difference.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01I've been on the receiving end of a hate incident.
0:24:04 > 0:24:05I'm going to report it to the police
0:24:05 > 0:24:08and I want them to take it seriously.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10I don't know how seriously the police are
0:24:10 > 0:24:12or aren't going to take this.
0:24:12 > 0:24:13In a perfect world,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17they'd deal with it like they would any other form of hate crime.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19Though, my big concern is that I'm not quite sure
0:24:19 > 0:24:21they know what they're dealing with.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24And that disability hate crime IS a thing and IS a problem.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29And that's...what I'm going to try and find out this time.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35And it's a really disappointing result.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38He said that because they're not actively saying
0:24:38 > 0:24:42"I'm going to come to your house and burn you alive,"
0:24:42 > 0:24:44that there's nothing they can do.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46But he then helpfully talked me through
0:24:46 > 0:24:49how to block people on YouTube, got out his phone
0:24:49 > 0:24:53and showed me how to do it and advised that I contact YouTube.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58I've already contacted YouTube. That was my Point A.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01YouTube don't seem to see the bloody problem either.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08I feel fobbed off. I don't feel it's been taken seriously.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10And I'm slightly confused as to where I stand.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17I've spent years trying to normalise and brush off the issue
0:25:17 > 0:25:19because it's easier to ignore it.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21But now, I'm facing it head on,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24I realise how prevalent the prejudice really is.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Having a disfigurement, you lose this anonymity.
0:25:32 > 0:25:33And become public property.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38On those bad days, you do have to put the barriers up,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41and for the purposes of this journey,
0:25:41 > 0:25:43I let them down a bit and I've had to think about stuff...
0:25:45 > 0:25:49..I wouldn't normally and had to be a bit more vulnerable
0:25:49 > 0:25:52than I otherwise would be and it's the strangest feeling ever.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57And I've had to think about disability hate crime,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00how people react to me... I've been noticing it a lot more.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03And when you notice it a lot more,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07you have to process it a lot more and it chips away at you...
0:26:07 > 0:26:08quicker.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14I think there's times when I'm there doing the...
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Adam Pearson thing.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19And I really don't want to be doing it.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32I'm not the only one with a disability
0:26:32 > 0:26:34who's not being listened to.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36There are some shocking incidents of disability hate crime
0:26:36 > 0:26:39that weren't taken seriously.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Take the tragic case of Fiona Pilkington, whose daughter,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44Francesca Hardwick, was disabled.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48Across ten years, she made 33 complaints to Leicestershire Police
0:26:48 > 0:26:51about hate crime incidents and no action was taken.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55Fiona ended up taking her own life along with Francesca's.
0:26:56 > 0:27:0023-year-old Brent Martin, who had learning disabilities,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03died in hospital after three trained boxers attacked him
0:27:03 > 0:27:06over a £5 bet to see who could knock him out first.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11Brent's murder wasn't recognised in court as being aggravated
0:27:11 > 0:27:14by their hatred of his disability and, alarmingly,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18all their sentences were reduced on appeal.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20Enough is enough.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28I have to pick myself up and keep going. I can't let ignorance win.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35'I need to find out where I stand on the abusive comment I received,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38'so I travel to Brighton to meet Dr Mark Walters...'
0:27:38 > 0:27:41- Mark? Adam.- Adam, nice to meet you. How are you?- I'm good, thank you.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44'..a specialist in hate crime laws from Sussex University.'
0:27:46 > 0:27:50The comment is, "What happened to the alien at the end of the film
0:27:50 > 0:27:54"should have happened to him at birth. Lol."
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Oh, crikey. That's horrible.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59I showed this to the police, I reported it.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02And they said, legally, there's nothing they can do.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05But is that a hate crime?
0:28:05 > 0:28:11- That, to me, is clearly an example of hate speech.- Mm-hm.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15So, there are various different pieces of legislation
0:28:15 > 0:28:17that this could be pursued under,
0:28:17 > 0:28:21and I think that the police were incorrect to just say to you,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24"There's nothing we can do about this."
0:28:24 > 0:28:27- They should have at least investigated this properly.- Yeah.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Because not only is this a case of, erm...
0:28:32 > 0:28:34..stating that you should have been killed at birth,
0:28:34 > 0:28:38but it's aggravated by the fact that they're referring to your disability.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41- Yeah.- I'm pretty alarmed by this.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44I'm assuming that you were probably quite distressed by it.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47- I was not best pleased.- Erm, and...
0:28:48 > 0:28:51..it could be interpreted as being abusive.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53So, there are three pieces of legislation
0:28:53 > 0:28:55that are relevant to that message.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57And the police should have taken that seriously.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01Hate crime laws protect five different minority groups
0:29:01 > 0:29:06on the grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation,
0:29:06 > 0:29:10transgender and disability.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13But, unfairly, there are different laws that cover these groups,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17and disability is excluded from certain hate crimes laws.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20If you're going to prescribe and legislate against hate crime,
0:29:20 > 0:29:22and you've identified five different groups
0:29:22 > 0:29:24that are deserving of protection,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28where there is clearly an issue of targeted violence, targeted abuse,
0:29:28 > 0:29:30you need to treat all of those equally in law.
0:29:30 > 0:29:35Cos if you don't, it sends out the unintended message that those groups
0:29:35 > 0:29:38- are less worthy of protection than other groups.- Yeah.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40And I just think that's not acceptable.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44Do you think they should - all five characteristic groups -
0:29:44 > 0:29:48should be included just under one piece of legislation,
0:29:48 > 0:29:49under one banner?
0:29:49 > 0:29:51Yes.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55If disability hate crime is not treated equally in law,
0:29:55 > 0:29:59how can we expect the rest of society to take it seriously?
0:30:08 > 0:30:11As I'm pondering how you go about changing the law,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13a strange thing happens.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16After a week of the abusive comment being on my YouTube page,
0:30:16 > 0:30:18it mysteriously vanishes.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21I wonder if it's because I mentioned it to my friend
0:30:21 > 0:30:23who works at Google.
0:30:23 > 0:30:28No, no-one contacted me at all to say the comments...were coming down.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30They just came down.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34It must have all happened... It probably all happened internally.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38Between... With the e-mail my friend sent
0:30:38 > 0:30:40and whoever he sent it to.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42I have no idea what happened behind the scenes.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45It would be really good to find out.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48Once upon a time, I'd have just let this lie, but now I want to know
0:30:48 > 0:30:52why they didn't react to the disablist hate speech right away.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54PHONE RINGS
0:30:56 > 0:30:58Hello, Adam Pearson.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00'After an e-mail to their press office,
0:31:00 > 0:31:02'I finally get to speak to someone.'
0:31:02 > 0:31:05Yeah, no, now's a completely good time to talk, yeah.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09Yes, that's... And I did do that.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11'What they're telling me is that I can moderate my own page
0:31:11 > 0:31:14'and restrict comments I don't like.'
0:31:14 > 0:31:15Bye.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20It does sound a bit like they're passing the buck back to the user
0:31:20 > 0:31:23and saying, "Well, you can just delete it yourself"
0:31:23 > 0:31:26or you can moderate all things yourself.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30They also told me it's often up to their moderators to interpret
0:31:30 > 0:31:34what is hate speak and what is not.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38I wonder what part of "should have been burnt to death at birth"
0:31:38 > 0:31:40is open to interpretation.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43I thought anything deemed to be offensive
0:31:43 > 0:31:46and relating to a person's disability
0:31:46 > 0:31:48is considered hate speech.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50The policy seemed really firm,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52and she seemed really firm.
0:31:52 > 0:31:57But their actions that led to this...didn't.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01I'm not satisfied, and have asked to meet someone in person.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05I want acknowledgement that they fucked up, cos they did.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09Otherwise the comment wouldn't have mysteriously disappeared.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12And I want to know that there's solid processes in place
0:32:12 > 0:32:15for people who don't have a friend that works at Google.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19I have to wait to hear if someone is willing to meet me.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26From Google to the police not taking this incident seriously,
0:32:26 > 0:32:27I'm starting to wonder
0:32:27 > 0:32:31if there's a bigger problem at the top that has filtered down.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35From 2013 to 2014,
0:32:35 > 0:32:40there were 10,532 racially and religiously motivated hate crimes
0:32:40 > 0:32:43convicted in England and Wales
0:32:43 > 0:32:46and only 470 disability hate crimes convicted.
0:32:49 > 0:32:50Whilst there were more racially
0:32:50 > 0:32:52and religiously motivated hate crimes overall,
0:32:52 > 0:32:55the difference between these numbers is so huge
0:32:55 > 0:32:58that as well as these crimes going under the radar,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01it could also suggest that there's something worrying going on
0:33:01 > 0:33:03in the way these crimes are being prosecuted.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06In 2013,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09Michael Fuller, Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12published a report revealing that disability hate crime
0:33:12 > 0:33:16specifically was being overlooked in the way it was prosecuted.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18- Hi, Michael.- Hello, Adam.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20Pleased to meet you.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24Is it lack of awareness, or is it cos the police, juries,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27et cetera, don't understand the issue?
0:33:27 > 0:33:30What the inspection found is the police officers,
0:33:30 > 0:33:32they often feel very awkward
0:33:32 > 0:33:35about asking people about their disability.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38So, they feel uncomfortable about that and, as a result,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42offences they may come across or be called to
0:33:42 > 0:33:45aren't always recorded in the way that they should be.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48So, issue number one - the police are too embarrassed
0:33:48 > 0:33:49to ask about disabilities,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52so aren't recording incidents as disability hate crimes.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55Why do you think, when it does make it to court,
0:33:55 > 0:34:00it seems to be taken less seriously than other forms of hate crime?
0:34:00 > 0:34:02There is quite a serious problem there,
0:34:02 > 0:34:07in that there's a duty on the prosecutor to highlight to the court
0:34:07 > 0:34:10that a particular offence is a disability hate crime.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13And there is a legal provision that enables them to do that.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Issue number two - prosecutors aren't stating to the courts
0:34:17 > 0:34:20that these offences are disability hate crimes,
0:34:20 > 0:34:23so they're not being convicted as such.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25And what we've found is that legal provision,
0:34:25 > 0:34:28the sentence uplift, was not being used enough
0:34:28 > 0:34:31and, as a result, the sentences weren't reflecting the seriousness
0:34:31 > 0:34:33of the disability hate crimes.
0:34:35 > 0:34:36Issue number three -
0:34:36 > 0:34:39if they were highlighted as disability hate crimes,
0:34:39 > 0:34:42then judges would have to hand out longer sentences,
0:34:42 > 0:34:45though still not as long as for other hate crimes.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48So, the system is failing disabled people?
0:34:48 > 0:34:51I don't know about failing, it's that the...
0:34:51 > 0:34:53the legal provisions that are already there
0:34:53 > 0:34:56are not being used in the way that they should be.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03It was really refreshing to talk to someone
0:35:03 > 0:35:06who was so open and honest about the issue.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09Michael Fuller seems to think that the laws for disability hate crime
0:35:09 > 0:35:13are fine, they're just not being used properly,
0:35:13 > 0:35:15and, to a degree, I get his point.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20But if judges aren't aware of the uplift for disability hate crime
0:35:20 > 0:35:22and how to use it and how to apply it,
0:35:22 > 0:35:24then it just simply won't be used.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27So raising awareness is really, really important.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31It's no wonder that disablism and disability hate crime
0:35:31 > 0:35:34don't register as an issue with ordinary people.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37If the police have been failing, and so have the courts,
0:35:37 > 0:35:42then the whole system has gone wrong from the top down.
0:35:42 > 0:35:43It'll take a lot more than just me
0:35:43 > 0:35:46getting on my soapbox to change the justice system.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50My only hope is that since Michael's report,
0:35:50 > 0:35:54the Crown Prosecution Service have drawn up an action plan.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58And I'm told their response is improving, as is that of the police.
0:35:59 > 0:36:00But let's face it,
0:36:00 > 0:36:03this kind of thing could take years to come through.
0:36:07 > 0:36:08I want to understand more
0:36:08 > 0:36:12about what leads people to carry out disability hate crimes.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14What causes this prejudice?
0:36:14 > 0:36:18Take the movies - baddies always seem to have...
0:36:18 > 0:36:20scars,
0:36:20 > 0:36:21burns,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23hooks,
0:36:23 > 0:36:24or even sometimes just a big nose.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29What does a villain look like?
0:36:29 > 0:36:32They have to be kind of...different from everyone else.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35They all have something scary about them, like, physically.
0:36:35 > 0:36:40The Joker, Two-Face, a lot of the Bond bad guys have disfigurements.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42Why do you think they do?
0:36:42 > 0:36:43- Ooh.- That's a tough question.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46I haven't really...thought of that.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48Society, like, makes them seem like they're scary.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51Because they're different from people or they look different.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54I think it goes back to old prejudices
0:36:54 > 0:36:56about the way that people look.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00And do you think that's a fair portrayal of disfigurement?
0:37:00 > 0:37:04- It's biased.- The way that somebody looks has absolutely no bearing
0:37:04 > 0:37:06on the way that they are.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09And so do you think I'm a bad guy? How bad could I be?
0:37:09 > 0:37:11SHE LAUGHS You seem nice enough.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14So, the industry's being lazy,
0:37:14 > 0:37:16using disfigurement as a shorthand for evil.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18And people don't even seem to question it.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23But is it just negative stereotypes that cause prejudice
0:37:23 > 0:37:26against disabled people, or does it run deeper than that?
0:37:34 > 0:37:37Why do people hate me when they don't know me?
0:37:37 > 0:37:39What is it that's going on in their heads?
0:37:39 > 0:37:42- Hi, Miles. Good to meet you. - Hi, Adam. Very good to meet you.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44'I'm hoping Professor Miles Hewstone,
0:37:44 > 0:37:46'who specialises in prejudice work
0:37:46 > 0:37:50'at Oxford University's psychology department can help me with this.'
0:37:50 > 0:37:53So, why do you think people are prejudiced
0:37:53 > 0:37:57to particularly people with disabilities and disfigurements?
0:37:57 > 0:38:01I think in the case of a group such as people with facial disfigurements,
0:38:01 > 0:38:05we'd be looking much more at the kind of emotions that people were feeling.
0:38:05 > 0:38:10The pronounced feeling people would have is one of anxiety
0:38:10 > 0:38:11and I think a great deal of this
0:38:11 > 0:38:15is that they have never met somebody like you before.
0:38:15 > 0:38:16As well as prejudice,
0:38:16 > 0:38:20what else going on when someone commits a hate crime?
0:38:20 > 0:38:24The kind of people who are engaged in hate crime
0:38:24 > 0:38:26against somebody like yourself
0:38:26 > 0:38:31are people feeling those very strong emotions like disgust or contempt,
0:38:31 > 0:38:34which I think is due to their inability
0:38:34 > 0:38:35to deal with their own feelings
0:38:35 > 0:38:38and then it makes them behave in extreme ways.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41They, if you like, are the problem, not you.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44I was starting to worry, "Maybe I'm just an arsehole?"
0:38:44 > 0:38:45But, no, it's good to know that I'm...
0:38:45 > 0:38:47- Well, you might be.- Whoa, whoa, whoa!
0:38:47 > 0:38:50But that's different! THEY LAUGH
0:38:50 > 0:38:54Do you think prejudice is in-built or hard-wired into people?
0:38:54 > 0:38:58I don't believe that it comes hard-wired.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01The most important thing is it doesn't come
0:39:01 > 0:39:04in some kind of form that is not changeable.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07We have plenty of evidence that it can be changed.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13I hope Miles is right, that people's prejudice can be changed,
0:39:13 > 0:39:15and he's agreed to help me test this.
0:39:17 > 0:39:18If I spend some time with people
0:39:18 > 0:39:21who feel prejudiced towards facial disfigurement,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25will meeting me in person have any effect on their prejudice levels?
0:39:26 > 0:39:28A group of ten randomly selected people
0:39:28 > 0:39:30agreed to take part in this experiment,
0:39:30 > 0:39:34most of whom have never spent time with a disfigured person.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36What we'd like to ask you to do first
0:39:36 > 0:39:39is to sit at one of these computers here...
0:39:39 > 0:39:43They haven't met me yet, and don't know what we're testing.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46From now on, please just follow the instructions
0:39:46 > 0:39:48that are all presented on the screen.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51First, we need to we need to measure their base prejudice levels.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54To do this, we'll use an established test
0:39:54 > 0:39:58which works out their subconscious bias against disfigured faces.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02The test measures people's automatic, uncontrollable responses
0:40:02 > 0:40:05to images of disfigured and non-disfigured faces
0:40:05 > 0:40:09so they are unable to give answers they may consciously want to give.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11These are tests that you can't control,
0:40:11 > 0:40:17and that we are, in a sense, all victims of our experiences.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19A score of 100%
0:40:19 > 0:40:22shows the highest level of subconscious prejudice,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25and 0% shows the least.
0:40:25 > 0:40:26When you get to the final screen,
0:40:26 > 0:40:30write it down on a piece of paper in front of you. Thank you.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33The score showed high levels of innate bias.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35Katie scored 100%.
0:40:35 > 0:40:40Do you think anything could be done to change the way you respond?
0:40:40 > 0:40:42Um...
0:40:42 > 0:40:43I don't know.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46It's obviously showing something that I'm automatically doing
0:40:46 > 0:40:48in my brain that I wasn't at all aware of,
0:40:48 > 0:40:50and certainly not consciously aware of.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53Ameer also scored 100%.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55- Are you surprised? - Oh, I'm definitely surprised, yeah.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57Yeah.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00Kelvin scored 71%.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04It shocked me - I would have thought I was at least average,
0:41:04 > 0:41:06if not better than that.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10I feel that I'm sympathetic, empathetic,
0:41:10 > 0:41:15and obviously the implicit results showed otherwise.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19Most of the group have little experience with disfigured people,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22but then Iwan scores a low 6%.
0:41:22 > 0:41:23Where's that come from?
0:41:23 > 0:41:27I've had some experience, like, with people with facial disfigurement,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30- but not in recent times. - Uh-huh. How was that?
0:41:30 > 0:41:32How did you come to have that experience?
0:41:32 > 0:41:34- I've done care work previously. - Uh-huh.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38- And I guess you spend more time than, probably, usual...- Right.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41Apart from Iwan's, these are high levels of innate prejudice,
0:41:41 > 0:41:44so I had my work cut out,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47because what happens next is the real test.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50I'm now going to take you downstairs,
0:41:50 > 0:41:54and guess what - I'm going to introduce you to somebody
0:41:54 > 0:41:57whose face you've just seen.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00This second part of the experiment has never been tested before.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03If this group spend time getting to know me,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06will their prejudice levels reduce?
0:42:06 > 0:42:09Miles has told them to ask me questions,
0:42:09 > 0:42:12to help them start to develop a relationship with me.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14Then, they'll be tested again.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18I have one hour, and a game of giant Jenga, to help me break the ice.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23LAUGHTER AND GROANS
0:42:23 > 0:42:24That's ridiculous!
0:42:26 > 0:42:29I am much cooler than that in real life.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32'They start with some basic questions...'
0:42:32 > 0:42:35- Where do you live?- Croydon.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37So, how old are you?
0:42:37 > 0:42:40I'm 29. Nearly 30.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43'..but for this to really work, they need to get more personal.'
0:42:44 > 0:42:47- Somebody asked me upstairs - I think it was you...- Yeah.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52..who asked me about whether you could ask anything you wanted.
0:42:52 > 0:42:53With your...
0:42:55 > 0:42:58..with your facial disfigurement, is your twin...
0:42:59 > 0:43:01..an identical twin?
0:43:01 > 0:43:04Yes, he is. Though the condition affects him differently.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08- And are you close?- Um... We don't have any of that kind of...
0:43:08 > 0:43:12People are like, "Do you have those, like, twin moments?"
0:43:12 > 0:43:14And... Well, one time someone hit him in the head
0:43:14 > 0:43:17and my fist really hurt, but apart from that,
0:43:17 > 0:43:20we've had none of those kind of psychic moments.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23How, um...is your eyesight at all affected?
0:43:23 > 0:43:24Yes - I'm blind in this eye.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26I lost this eye when I was about ten,
0:43:26 > 0:43:30and I've been partially sighted in this one since about the same age.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34I was worried when I saw Adam downstairs
0:43:34 > 0:43:37after we'd finished playing the Jenga game -
0:43:37 > 0:43:40he was talking, and there was quite a large physical distance
0:43:40 > 0:43:42between him and everybody else.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44I worried that maybe the reason people were pulling back
0:43:44 > 0:43:47like that was because of this anxiety,
0:43:47 > 0:43:52and that they would just feel they didn't want to get too close to him.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54The group will now take the test again,
0:43:54 > 0:43:57to see if getting to know me has had any effect.
0:43:57 > 0:44:02Please just do the test exactly as you did before, OK?
0:44:02 > 0:44:04Just because they've now met me,
0:44:04 > 0:44:07they still can't affect the results of the test.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10It measures the brain's automatic responses to the images they see.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13And, as before, please leave the score up at the end.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16Will their prejudice scores come down,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19or are people's biases unchangeable?
0:44:19 > 0:44:21This is only a one-off experience,
0:44:21 > 0:44:25but we are asking that an hour or so today can undo the events
0:44:25 > 0:44:29and experiences of a lifetime - so, maybe that's very optimistic.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31The results are coming in.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33Kelvin's first score was 71%,
0:44:33 > 0:44:36and it's now dropped to 50%.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40Katie's score was 100%,
0:44:40 > 0:44:42then fell to 42%.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46Ameer, how did your second test go, compared with your first test?
0:44:46 > 0:44:48It was really different.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50Ameer's first score was 100%.
0:44:50 > 0:44:51Amazingly,
0:44:51 > 0:44:53this has fallen to just 12%.
0:44:54 > 0:44:58Why do you think your score has changed so much?
0:44:58 > 0:44:59Just meeting him -
0:44:59 > 0:45:03when we first went in, the way I looked at him was very different.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06- Yeah.- I looked at his face, and focused, really, on his face...- Yes.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08..and then, towards the end of it, I realised
0:45:08 > 0:45:11I had actually started processing a different mental image of him.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14- Yeah.- It absolutely had an effect.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17So, what were the overall results for the group?
0:45:17 > 0:45:21The scores have become much less prejudiced, taking the test again.
0:45:21 > 0:45:26Nine out of ten people considerably reduced their prejudice score.
0:45:27 > 0:45:32Getting this group of people together to meet someone like Adam
0:45:32 > 0:45:35has shown me the power of face-to-face interaction
0:45:35 > 0:45:38with somebody from a group that you have no contact with.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41Looking at the test, I'm even more positive about that,
0:45:41 > 0:45:47because in nine out of ten people - so, overall, a clear tendency
0:45:47 > 0:45:53for prejudicial reactions to be reduced as a result of meeting Adam.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55Actually meeting a person
0:45:55 > 0:45:58who actually has facial disfigurement
0:45:58 > 0:46:01has really sort of helped me personally to understand what
0:46:01 > 0:46:03it's like to live with that kind of disability.
0:46:03 > 0:46:04I think I felt nervous initially,
0:46:04 > 0:46:07because I didn't know how he was going to react to us.
0:46:07 > 0:46:12Once he started speaking, that broke down the barriers, and certainly,
0:46:12 > 0:46:16now we're all relaxed with him. We see beyond his disfigurement.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20I was ridiculously encouraged
0:46:20 > 0:46:23to find out what happened after the group had met me.
0:46:23 > 0:46:28I expected a few people's results to be better the second time round
0:46:28 > 0:46:30than the first time,
0:46:30 > 0:46:34but nine out of ten is an astonishingly good number.
0:46:43 > 0:46:44This is a massive breakthrough.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47I've discovered that I can effect a change in people's prejudice
0:46:47 > 0:46:48towards disfigurement
0:46:48 > 0:46:51just by spending time with them.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55If people getting to know me can lower their prejudice and fear,
0:46:55 > 0:46:57then maybe reaching people on a larger scale
0:46:57 > 0:46:59can help reduce hate crime.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01But how?
0:47:01 > 0:47:04One of the ways I put people at ease during the experiment
0:47:04 > 0:47:06was by making them laugh.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09I've been using humour in this way all my life.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13At secondary school, when you kind of...get bullied a lot,
0:47:13 > 0:47:17and just go through, kind of, a crap time,
0:47:17 > 0:47:21you become the funny guy. Everyone likes the funny guy.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24I was always naturally quite witty and funny,
0:47:24 > 0:47:27I just didn't know how to use it properly.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30And so, when I kind of grew up and matured a bit,
0:47:30 > 0:47:35and kind of became more, I guess, self-secure and self-aware,
0:47:35 > 0:47:39you can start using it appropriately and properly,
0:47:39 > 0:47:43and realise that you don't need to use it as a defence mechanism,
0:47:43 > 0:47:48you can use it just to make what could be an awkward situation
0:47:48 > 0:47:51for someone else a little less awkward for them.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53Hello!
0:47:53 > 0:47:56Hello, everyone. Do come and make yourselves at home.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58I've always wanted to try stand-up comedy.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01Perhaps this is a way for me to reach out to a wider audience -
0:48:01 > 0:48:04but I need some lessons if I'm going to get this right.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06I'm a bit nervous about this,
0:48:06 > 0:48:09because a lot hangs on me being funny.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12I think intelligent and charming can only take me so far -
0:48:12 > 0:48:16but intelligent, charming and funny - that's a winner.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20I also want to test out in the real world, will these people feel
0:48:20 > 0:48:23more comfortable around me if I can make them laugh?
0:48:25 > 0:48:28I'd like you to stand up, and, to the group, say who you are,
0:48:28 > 0:48:30and why you're here.
0:48:30 > 0:48:31I'm Suzie - Suzie Steed,
0:48:31 > 0:48:34which apparently is a really good name for comedy.
0:48:34 > 0:48:35LAUGHTER
0:48:35 > 0:48:37I'm Jim Hooper, and...
0:48:37 > 0:48:40Yeah, I should really be doing work at the moment.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42LAUGHTER
0:48:42 > 0:48:44Hi, I'm Adam Pearson.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48I'm here because my girlfriend has confiscated my PlayStation 4,
0:48:48 > 0:48:51and so I have absolutely nothing else to do.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53LAUGHTER
0:48:53 > 0:48:55Did anyone stand out to you when you first arrived?
0:48:55 > 0:48:57Yes. Adam did.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00When I first glanced at him, I thought, "Is that..."
0:49:00 > 0:49:02You know, "Is that really his face?"
0:49:02 > 0:49:04I actually, honestly, I have to say, I thought he was wearing a mask.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08Of course it was a shock to them when they first saw me -
0:49:08 > 0:49:11but if the experiment has proved anything, they should feel
0:49:11 > 0:49:14more comfortable with me the more time they spend with me.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16One of you is going to choose to be high status,
0:49:16 > 0:49:18and one of you to be low status.
0:49:18 > 0:49:20We're paired off to work on improvised sketches.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23- You've not just let me down... - HE SNIFFS
0:49:24 > 0:49:26- VOICE BREAKS: - You've let yourself down.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29LAUGHTER
0:49:29 > 0:49:31You know - very funny, I thought.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33I was surprised that that was, like,
0:49:33 > 0:49:35his first time doing those activities,
0:49:35 > 0:49:36and I was saying, you know,
0:49:36 > 0:49:39"You're really naturally a funny bloke."
0:49:39 > 0:49:42So, I want you to stand here for one minute as an expert
0:49:42 > 0:49:45on one subject that I'm going to give you. All right?
0:49:45 > 0:49:46That's all you have to do.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50And your time starts now.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52'I may have a good sense of humour,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55'but can I make people laugh for a whole minute?'
0:49:55 > 0:49:57That's a minute, that's a minute - brilliant!
0:49:57 > 0:49:59What a brilliant joke at the end - in my opinion.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01And I'm last up.
0:50:01 > 0:50:06Good ways and bad ways of letting somebody down gently -
0:50:06 > 0:50:07and your time starts now.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13OK, so, we have to let people down, that's a fact.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16And there are ways of doing it well, with decorum,
0:50:16 > 0:50:18that means that you can still talk to your ex,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21and they don't take out a restraining order against you,
0:50:21 > 0:50:22and there are bad ways to do it.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25For example, don't do this - I learned it the hard way.
0:50:25 > 0:50:26"Hey, babe, how are you?
0:50:26 > 0:50:28"Kiss - yeah - kiss - I'm fine.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30"Everyone that has a boyfriend, take one step forward.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32"Whoa, whoa, whoa."
0:50:32 > 0:50:33LAUGHTER
0:50:33 > 0:50:38Don't sit them down and go, "It's not you, it's me.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41"I'm the one that's been...fucking your sister."
0:50:41 > 0:50:44LAUGHTER
0:50:44 > 0:50:46That's a minute - that's a minute, that's all you get.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48We don't get to the end of the anecdote.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51He was much more confident than I thought he would be.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54It just changes - you think...
0:50:54 > 0:50:55I mean, I'll be saying to people,
0:50:55 > 0:50:57"God, I met this guy who was disfigured,
0:50:57 > 0:50:59"and he was really funny."
0:50:59 > 0:51:01He participated exactly the same as anyone else,
0:51:01 > 0:51:02and was incredibly funny,
0:51:02 > 0:51:05which meant, then, the outstanding thing was,
0:51:05 > 0:51:07we were all shocked that he'd never done it before.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10Did you find Adam's disfigurement stopped standing out
0:51:10 > 0:51:12- the more time you spent with him? - Absolutely.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14You completely stopped noticing it.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16You know, you were just talking to Adam.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20So, it seems I can use humour to reduce fears and put people at ease.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24And now I want to get out there and make people laugh.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26I'm really buzzing right now.
0:51:26 > 0:51:27Aah!
0:51:27 > 0:51:30This was crazy. This, to me, was the acid test
0:51:30 > 0:51:32to - am I as funny as I think I am?
0:51:32 > 0:51:34And I'm...
0:51:34 > 0:51:36And to be in a room full of nine other people
0:51:36 > 0:51:40that have done this before, and me kind of having my first lesson,
0:51:40 > 0:51:44trying to pretend I'd done this before was really nerve-racking.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47I've definitely got a bit of a taste for it now.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55But before I embark on my life of fame, riches and world domination...
0:51:55 > 0:51:57Time to see what my mum thinks.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01We did this stand-up comedy class.
0:52:02 > 0:52:03But then they're all on your side,
0:52:03 > 0:52:05they would have probably felt sorry for you
0:52:05 > 0:52:08and they thought, "Oh, we'll laugh." SHE LAUGHS
0:52:08 > 0:52:10- Well, that's a bit... - Mean!- That's a bit mean!
0:52:10 > 0:52:15I'm not entirely sure that's not a hate crime. Bloody hell, this...
0:52:15 > 0:52:17This went south really quickly!
0:52:17 > 0:52:20'Could my own mother be a disablist?!'
0:52:20 > 0:52:24Out of curiosity, do you know what disablism is?
0:52:26 > 0:52:29- Not really, no, but I can imagine what it is.- What do you think it is?
0:52:29 > 0:52:32Give me an educated guess as to what disablism is?
0:52:32 > 0:52:36- Prejudice against people with disabilities?- Exactly.
0:52:36 > 0:52:38'Good old Mum! I was starting to worry.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46'Google, who I'm in no way at all calling disablist,
0:52:46 > 0:52:50'refused to meet with me about the hate speech I received.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53'However, they've sent me the following statement in an e-mail.'
0:53:14 > 0:53:17'Yeah. I was pretty disappointed with that, too.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23'With Google's support, or without, I've got my own ideas as to
0:53:23 > 0:53:25'how I'm going to start educating
0:53:25 > 0:53:27'and engaging with people on the issue.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30'I've been booked on my first ever comedy gig -
0:53:30 > 0:53:31'and I'm bricking it.'
0:53:31 > 0:53:34I have no idea how this is going to go.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38This is a whole room full of people...judging me.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44I think I'm hilarious, but other people might incorrectly disagree.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49What I've learned through this whole journey is that
0:53:49 > 0:53:52if people are kind of exposed to disability
0:53:52 > 0:53:56and disfigurement in a positive way, through comedy,
0:53:56 > 0:54:00then they kind of become less hostile towards it,
0:54:00 > 0:54:02which then in turn breaks down prejudice,
0:54:02 > 0:54:04which breaks down hate crime.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08# She's been waiting around
0:54:08 > 0:54:10# Saving for her time... #
0:54:12 > 0:54:16A-agh! You know, I'm building this up too much in my head.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19I'm doing the kind of worst-case scenario that someone's going
0:54:19 > 0:54:24to heckle me and I'm going to get into an argument with a random guy.
0:54:24 > 0:54:25I'm on in about...
0:54:26 > 0:54:28..10 minutes, Jesus!
0:54:28 > 0:54:31OK, 10 minutes. There's nowhere to hide.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33It's you, a mic and a mic stand.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35Phew! Bloody hell.
0:54:39 > 0:54:40Why am I going to do this?!
0:54:46 > 0:54:48OK, breathe...!
0:54:50 > 0:54:51Good, OK, let's do this!
0:54:53 > 0:54:56It's my pleasure to introduce a stand-up comedian,
0:54:56 > 0:54:58his name is Adam Pearson.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02This is going to be his stand-up comedy debut,
0:55:02 > 0:55:04so give it up for Adam!
0:55:04 > 0:55:06CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:55:09 > 0:55:11Some of you might recognise me from the telly.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13Um, I've got one of those faces.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15And so...
0:55:15 > 0:55:18So, yeah, being disabled's weird cos people ask you,
0:55:18 > 0:55:21like, ridiculous questions.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24Like, I used to live in Brighton when I studied, and we had the gas
0:55:24 > 0:55:27man come round one day, and I was the only person in, so I let him in.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30And he was being a bit funny with me the whole time, and then as he left
0:55:30 > 0:55:32he just turned to me and went,
0:55:32 > 0:55:36"My friend Bill's got a disfigurement. Do you know him?"
0:55:36 > 0:55:42"Well, my friend Rob is a bit of a twat.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45"Do you know him?"
0:55:45 > 0:55:47LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:55:51 > 0:55:53And then, to make it more awkward,
0:55:53 > 0:55:56it turns out I did, in fact, know Bill.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58LAUGHTER
0:55:58 > 0:56:01We, in fact, dated the same girl for a while.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03LAUGHTER
0:56:03 > 0:56:07'I've had to stare into the ugly face of disability hate crime,
0:56:07 > 0:56:11'and I've learned that I've got to stand up and be counted.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14'I'm going to continue getting in people's faces and sorting
0:56:14 > 0:56:18'out their attitudes, but I can't effect the change all on my own.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22'The police, the justice system, the media, society in general,
0:56:22 > 0:56:24'it's your responsibility, too.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28'And for all those that still have a problem with it - get over it,
0:56:28 > 0:56:31'cos I now know you can.'
0:56:31 > 0:56:33APPLAUSE AND WHISTLING