People with disabilities were recently included as a protected category in the Hate Crime

Statistics Act, in part, because of the longstanding history of negative attitudes, prejudice

and discrimination against people with disabilities in areas such as employment, poverty,

etc. Since its inclusion, the number of bias crimes committed against people with

disabilities is disproportionately lower than other protected categories.

 It has been suggested that no other group of citizens has been treated with the same

degree of prejudice and discrimination than people with disabilities. Evidence exists that

people with disabilities have the highest rate of unemployment of any protected class of

citizens, live in poverty at a rate disproportionate to the general population, and

experience crime at a rate and duration disproportionate to the general population. As the

first class of citizens targeted for extinction by Nazi physicians, it is arguable that people

with disabilities were the first victims of bias motivated crime during World War II.

Given the history of prejudice and discrimination of people with disabilities, data

suggesting that people with disabilities in the United States are victims of bias crimes at a

rate disproportionately lower than other protected categories are highly suspect

(McMahon et al., 2004). Although it is reasonable to entertain the idea that people with

disabilities are not victims of bias crimes at the same rate as other protected categories,

the pervasiveness and prevalence of inequality in other areas demands this conclusion be

drawn only after other possible explanations have been explored. Research attempting to

explain inequality for people with disabilities in other areas has resulted in a substantial

amount of evidence that attitudes may be a significant factor in determining how people

perceive and behave towards people with disabilities.