JustBeingCP

Whilst I was at Lewis Capaldi’s concert in Birmingham on Thursday (26th January, 2023) I was a victim of Hate Crime.

There were a couple of people sat next to myself and my best friend Dan in the wheelchair accessible section and one of them decided to call me a cripple.

They hadn’t even known me an hour at the time of the incident and this left me feeling very confused and upset with regards to what had happened.

The individual in question also went onto make remarks about my height which I also found quite confusing.

I am apparently the same height as the top of my wheelchair and in my case that would be the top of my headrest.

I thought I was going there to enjoy myself but I was clearly mistaken and I am now dealing with the after effects of what happened.

I am definitely not a cripple and don’t appreciate being called one by somebody who I didn’t even know.

The person is question told me that they were a psychologist in a special educational needs establishment and in my opinion that makes this incident even worse.

This isn’t the first time that I have been called a cripple however that doesn’t make dealing with how it makes me feel any easier.

I spent all of Thursday night at the hotel in bed thinking about what members of our society think of me and my disabilities.

We are now under 4 days on from the incident and I haven’t stopped thinking about it because it has really affect me just like it did last time.

I am again calling for there to be better/more education around what is and isnt acceptable to say to other members of our society.

I believe that conversations around Hate Crime should be had more frequently in PSHE lessons when children and young people are learning about things like this.

If I could give the person in question a message with regards to how I feel then it would be this: Please, please, please consider what you say to whose with disabilities and how your words and actions might affect them.

I know that this is another very short blog but I wanted to share my experience of how an enjoyable evening turned into one of hell.

If you would like to watch the video that I posted on social media talking about the incident you can find it here: https://twitter.com/cameron_woodhfd/status/1618857006852603904?s=46&t=dqMErXWenf8uq1ft6Wk0rQ

As always I would like to end in the normal way by thanking both my readers and followers for taking the time out of your busy schedules to read my latest blog.

Cam