Fifty-three Wokingham Borough councillors have signed CLASP’s Hate Crime Charter to show their support against hate crimes aimed at people with learning disabilities in the local community. The charter has been signed by borough councillors, pledging support to this worthy campaign.
The Hate Crime Charter was put together by CLASP, a learning disability charity, to encourage all local businesses, volunteer sectors and stakeholders to become more aware of hate crime, help raise awareness and support a zero tolerance against hate crime.
By signing the Hate Crime Charter, councillors promise to support the campaign by:
- Talking about hate crime and helping people understand what it is
- Sharing CLASP's hate crime leaflets and telling people about their hate crime workshops
- Telling people about CLASP's training group called 'Listen To Us' who deliver hate crime training
- Supporting victims of hate crime by helping them report incidents or signposting them to the right place
- Supporting CLASP's work during Hate Crime Awareness Week
Wokingham Borough Mayor Cllr Keith Baker MBE said: “I am delighted that fifty-three of my fellow councillors have signed CLASP’s Hate Crime Charter. This is an incredible achievement for a very important issue. The Hate Crime Charter is just one of the many services offered by CLASP for this often-ignored community.
“We have a zero tolerance against hate crimes in our borough and have been working closely with CLASP and Thames Valley Police to address this issue. On behalf of Wokingham Borough Council, I would like to thank and applaud the vital work CLASP carry out to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities in our community.”
CLASP CEO, Debra Morrison said: “I am immensely proud of CLASP and the Listen to Us training team who have used real life experiences to raise awareness of Hate Crime. The charter is an ongoing project for us and we really need the community to support the fight against Hate and Mate Crime, and make Wokingham Borough and beyond a safer, inclusive place to live.
“We would like to thank Thames Valley Police for their help in making the video come to life, and superintendent at Thames Valley Police Felicity Parker and director of adult social services at Wokingham Borough Council Matt Pope for endorsing the charter for us.”
Hate crime can affect anyone regardless of race, religion or faith, sexuality or gender preference, and can often take the forms of verbal abuse, physical violence, vandalism, stealing or threatening behaviour.
Since 2020, CLASP has partnered with Thames Valley Police to have a greater focus on Hate and Mate Crime and in 2021, launched a joint video to demonstrate the seriousness of hate crime within the learning disability community. The video was shared on police websites across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
About CLASP
CLASP (Caring Listening and Supporting Partnership) is a self-advocacy organisation, commissioned by Wokingham Borough Council, for people with learning disabilities in Wokingham Borough. CLASP aims to empower people with learning disabilities to speak up for their rights, promote independence and encourage community involvement, challenge people’s perceptions of people with a learning disability, develop members’ employability skills and influence local and national decision making. As a user-led organisation, more than half of the members on CLASP’s board of directors have a learning disability. CLASP employs people with learning disabilities to support their projects.
Both CLASP and the Learning Disability Partnership Board (LDBP) hold regular meetings and discussions, whilst supporting the annual national events including Hate Crime Week and Anti-Bullying Week.
CLASP runs weekly activities including a coffee shop drop-in session where members can participate in projects and get sign posting information, a training group called ‘Listen To Us’ which delivers disability awareness training, a campaigning group called ‘Take Notice’ which acts as a consultancy group, and a hate crime reporting centre.
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