'Stand by me' parliamentary reception

Last night, nearly 100 people gathered at Parliament for the launch of Mencap's latest campaign, 'Stand by me'.

The launch was attended by Members of Parliament, people with a learning disability who had experienced disability hate crime and staff from across the criminal justice system - including police, probation and court staff.

At the event, Mencap's latest research report, 'Don’t stand by', was launched profiling the work being done by police services across England and Wales.  

The report shows that while some police services are doing really well, there are others where changes could be made to improve the experience of people with a learning disability reporting hate crime. To date, 8 police services have already signed up to support Mencap's campaign.

At the event, a film was also shown which documented one family's experience after their brother, who had a learning disability, was murdered in 2005.  Mencap were delighted that Keith's sister, Christine could attend the event.  The video can be seen at www.mencap.org.uk

Mencap is working hard to ensure that all 43 police services sign up to the campaign, and that this leads to a noticeable improvement in the experiences of people with a learning disability when they report disability hate crime.  For more information, check out www.mencap.org.uk/standbyme