A blind woman who was bullied in Stevenage filmed attacks to stop culprits

Siobhan Meade said abuse 'nearly destroyed her life'

A blind person uses braille to read (Lrcg2012/Wikimedia Commons)

A blind woman, who suffered on the streets of Stevenage abuse that “nearly destroyed” her life, stopped the attacks by wearing a camera and handing incriminating footage of to the police.

The bullies began targeting 30-year-old Siobhan Meade when she moved to the Hertfordshire town from Norfolk in November last year.

Ms Meade, who has been blind since she was 16-years-old, told BBC News that the abuse “nearly destroyed her life”.

She added that filming her attackers was her only choice, as she had no other way of gathering evidence.

Police officers used to footage identify and confront the perpetrators, who have now stopped abusing Ms Meade.

“You get the odd silly comment but nothing to the extent it was,” she explained.

“The police had been so supportive and given me lots of reassurance, so when I took the footage to them they were able to deal with it,” she told the website.

A police spokesman told BBC News that this kind of hate crime was “under-reported”.

“We are committed to ensuring people with disabilities have increased support and opportunity to report incidents in a safe and secure environment, either to the police or via a third party,” he added.