​Families often fear going into public places because of abuse

Hate crimes against disabled children have risen nearly 150% in two years.

New figures gathered from Freedom of Information requests to police forces across the UK show that reported incidents of this kind rose from 181 to 450 last year.

They follow an overall rise in hate crimes against disabled people which doubled between 2014/15 and 2015/16.

The crimes concern verbal, physical and online abuse as well as violence.

Amanda Batten of campaign group Disabled Children's Partnership said: “Families often feel like they can't go into busy public spaces or post images onto social media for fear of being publicly shamed or having to be submitted to people telling them that their child must lack quality of life because of their disability.

“The idea that so many parents and children with a disability are facing such a lack of support and outright abuse from the general public is truly heart breaking.”

Bethan Germon's daughter Lydia has been subjected to frequent abuse and has become a regular feature when she ventures outdoors.

The two year old from Swansea has hydrocephalus which causes her head to swell.

"You see a really ugly side of people online to the point where they say they wish she was dead or why don't we kill her," Bethan said.

"The online commenting has easily been the worst and my husband has actually made sure that I come offline for a couple of days when things have been said.

"He really does try to protect me as much as he can."

A disability hate crime is defined as anything from online abuse to physical violence in which the victim was targeted because of their disability.