Disability attitudes criticised

Denise Hickman, a Mencap caseworker at the charity's Smile! Stop Hate Crime project in Nottingham, has told ITV News that the Paralympics were great as "it brought into the public consciousness that there are people with disabilities who do fantastic things".

But she added: "On the ground, we haven't heard that it's made any difference".

The mother of an autistic teenager who has experienced prejudice and bullying as a result of his disability has spoken to ITV News about the serious impact on her family.

Helen Valentine said the abuse her 16-year-old son Joe suffered affected any sense of normality.

Watch: Joe Valentine describes his experience of dealing with prejudice

ITV News' Social Affairs Editor Penny Marshall asked eleven times Paralympic wheelchair Gold Medallist, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, whether attitudes have changed since the Paralympics.

Sixteen-year-old Joe Valentine has autism and was the victim of physical assault before the summer.

He spoke to ITV News' Social Affairs Editor, Penny Marshall about the "heartbreaking" prejudice he has regularly encountered, and how he deals with it.

ITV News Social Affairs Editor Penny Marshall reports on the discrimination still felt by those with disabilities 100 days after the Paralympics.

Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of Scope and Paralympian Dave Clarke, who captained the Blind Football team have spoken about the changes they have seen in attitudes after the Paralympic Games.

Dave Clarke said that the games are not responsible for changing attitudes, "I think it's very naive to expect the Paralympics to solve the ills of discrimination and abuse."

Richard Hawkes said that small changes have been seen recently in the attitudes towards those with disabilities, "disabled people are telling us and parents with young disabled children are telling us that they are seeing small things.

"They're seeing people starting to do things in a different way. It might be lots of very small things but people are reporting overwhelmingly that they think there was that opportunity to really bring about some fundamental change."

The Paralympics were the games which were meant to change our views of people with disabilities. But 100 days since they ended, a new survey carried out by Scope shows that discrimination continues.

While Paralympians themselves continue to enjoy celebrity status, two thirds of people living with disabilities feel that the games have done nothing to improve how they are treated and spoken to.

• 72% said that the Paralympics had a positive impact on attitudes towards the disabled in general
• 53% said they still regularly experience discrimination
• 67% said that the Paralympics have done nothing to improve the way they are spoken to

One man with learning difficulties has said that he has repeatedly suffered abuse in the street due to his disability.

Roger Grange told ITV News Social Affairs Editor Penny Marshall that as well as name calling by both children and parents he has also been physically attacked.

The 60-year-old said that he did not believe that the Paralympics has had any impact on the way people spoke to him or treated him.

Roger was forced to move from his home after the abuse became physical.

The Director of Public Prosecution, Keir Starmer QC, has called for more to be done about the number of hate crimes against those with disabilities.

Mr Starmer told ITV News that the "mismatch" between the amount of abuse being reported in surveys and what the CPS can prosecute needed to be addressed.

Read: Latest CPS disability hate crime statistics

Mr Starmer said; "Like everybody else I thought the Paralympics were fantastic, the sheer number of people that watched and appreciated what was going on was quite incredible.

"I hope that has enhanced our understanding of people with disabilities, my fear is that the surveys continue to show a high level of abuse. It is the surveys of ordinary people, day in day out, that are really important to this debate."