People with disabilities have spoken out about the abuse they sometimes face in public.

Fran O’Brien, 60, from New Malden, runs the Yadapa charity which provides art workshops for young and disabled people.

Her ability to walk deteriorated due to childhood polio, and she uses a motorised wheelchair. Last summer she experienced a shocking instance of spitefulness.

She said: “I was crossing the road and was aware there was a car a way off in the distance.

"I had just started to cross and I heard an engine change gear.

"As they came towards me I couldn’t do anything but keep going and pray.

“They were clearly finding it hilariously funny – they were trying to frighten me, not trying to hit me.

"If I had stopped in fright they may well have hit me.

“I just wonder whether people actually put themselves in your position."

Sometimes insensitivity can be a cause for amusement, she said.

An elderly lady once said to her: “It must be lovely not having to walk."

Mrs O’Brien said: “I understood where she was coming from. You need a sense of humour if you are disabled.”

She had a positive experience in Snappy Snaps in Union Street, Kingston.

After he was alerted to poor access, a worker arranged the same week for a ramp to be kept ready.

“He proved how easy it was do to that,” Mrs O’Brien said.

Liam O’Carroll, 42, a freelance writer and actor who lives in Kingston, lost his sight in his late teens.

He recalled one incident in which someone pretended to spit in his ear. He said: “They did not spit but they made the noise. That person had been there and was watching us all the way.”

“Although they make you feel very uncomfortable and bad they are transparent in the sense that it does not have major implications for me.”

But being given the impression he is unwelcome in shops, for example, is wearing, he said.

He added: "When people are being openly abusive you know where you stand. Being excluded is far more damaging in the long-term."