Today marks the start of National Hate Crime Awareness Week, running from the 8th to 15th October 2016. Our colleagues over at Stop Hate UK and 17-24-30 are doing some great work on raising the profile of hate crime in all its forms, and how we can all work together to stop it.

Although it’s tempting to categorise hate crime as motivated by race, religion, sexual orientation and so on, our belief is that hate crime is motivated by a fundamental fear of difference. This is why the work of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation is so important.

Our society still has a way to go in embracing diversity as a whole, and in particularly neurodiversity – still a new concept for many. However it’s great to see that the issue of hate crime is in the spotlight again this week, and is at the top of the Government’s agenda.

A few weeks ago, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) quietly relaunched Disability Confident, a initiative originally launched in 2013 by David Cameron as a replacement for the Two Ticks positive action scheme.

Logo displayed by participating employers

Disability Confident encompasses a number of voluntary commitments to encourage employers to recruit, retain and develop disabled staff, such as offering work experience opportunities and implementing a flexible recruitment process. The scheme is intended to address the shortcomings of Two Ticks, which was criticised for not setting rigorous standards for employers displaying the TT logo.

The new guidance for employers wishing to sign up to the scheme can be found here.

(A longer version of this article can be found on the Disabled Police Association website.)

*In case you missed it

The last 12 months have seen the transformation of autism from a little-known medical condition to a social phenomenon, with TV programmes such as The Autistic Gardener and The Bridge, and two books exploring the history of the condition. This week sees the breakthrough of autism into mainstream TV drama with The A Word, a new 6-part series on BBC1 dealing with a family coming to terms with their five year old son’s diagnosis and struggle to fit into a “normal” world.

© BBC

The first episode aired on Tuesday 22nd March, and the programme has already been praised for its sensitive and realistic portrayal of a condition which is still misunderstood by many. The programme page on the BBC website has links to episodes on iPlayer and information and resources on autism.