A conference on hate crime involving people with learning disabilities will be held in Hove.

The ‘It’s not on – stop hate crime towards people with learning disabilities’ event will welcome various organisations to Hove Town Hall in November to raise awareness on the causes of effect of hate crime.

The conference is being organised by Brighton and Hove’s Learning Disability Partnership Board – a body made up of learning disability and non-learning disability organisations including the Grace Eyre Foundation, SpeakOut and Sussex Police.

MORE:

Eva Jarvis, chief executive of the Grace Eyre Foundation, described another form of hate crime – ‘mate crime’.

She said: “Mate crime is where someone will befriend a person who has learning disabilities and will essentially abuse their trust.

“They will take their money, abuse their property and abuse the apparent friendship. The person with learning disabilities will know no better.

“The conference and campaign will help raise awareness to people who have learning disabilities that things like name-calling and being ignored because they have a disability is in fact a hate crime. I remember one incident a few years ago where one of our clients told us they tried to board a bus in Sussex and were greeted by the driver with, ‘have they let out the zoo?’ “Around 70 per cent of all people with a learning disability will experience some sort of hate crime in their life time. It’s a big issue.”

A spokesman from Brighton-based Southdown Housing, a provider of specialist accommodation for people with learning disabilities, said: “We had a recent example where a man with a learning disability, who receives a few hours of support a week, had been verbally and physically assaulted by his neighbour.

“Initially he had not told support staff about the incidents and he lacked confidence with his communication.”

Sussex Police said it recorded 13 disability-rated hate crimes in the county in 2010 to 2011 – but the figure nearly doubled to 23 the following year.

A spokesman for the force said: “We recognise that all forms of hate crime are under-reported, and tackling this remains one of Sussex Police’s main priorities.

“We feel that our work to increase awareness may be at least one factor in the rise in reporting.”

The conference will be held on November 26 from 10am to 3pm at Hove Town Hall. For more information call Anke on 01323 727872 or visit its-not-on.eventbrite.co.uk. Entry is free.