How did it all start?

In 2012 a community member (our founder) watched a TV programme about Disability Hate Crime. The programme highlighted the story of a young adult who was murdered by people she thought were her friends. The term “mate crime” was used to explain how disabled people can sometimes be be-friended and abused by so-called friends. 

Having never heard of Disability Hate Crime or Mate Crime before, she began to research whether these types of incidents were happening locally. After involving the local Police, they worked together to carry out focus groups and were shocked by the stories they heard! They were astounded that this was happening, and no-one spoke about it.

And this is how I Am Me was born! The partnership with the local police was crucial in raising awareness of these incidents that were happening all too often in our local communities. 

I Am Me became a community project in March 2013 working with a small group of amazing community volunteers including young people and people who have experience of living with a disability.  The group set about raising awareness to “bring this out in the open”. 

The project worked with the local theatre group, who used all of the research to bring each of the cases to life through a live performance based on a young adult called Charlie who, after moving into his own flat, began to be targeted by young people in his area. These performances were delivered in high schools around Scotland as well as Scottish Parliament and the Police Training College. 

The performance demonstrated how “low level” harassment and abuse such as litter in the garden, shouting in the street etc can escalate into targeted abuse and Charlie becomes more isolated. He stops going to work and, stops tending his garden and stops his family from visiting and becomes more and more distressed. The story continues to escalate, showing many members of the public finding it difficult watch, but still doing nothing to help. 

Charlie’s story is hard hitting and helps young people to question their own attitudes and behaviours. The success of the live performance led to further work with the theatre group to develop the award winning I Am Me film. The I Am Me Team worked with young people, disabled people and other third sector organisations to develop an accompany training resource for businesses. 

The project received Charity status in 2015 and has gone onto design and develop many new, exciting, engaging and innovative initiatives, including Keep Safe.  A multi award winning national network of Keep Safe places, developed in partnership with Police Scotland. The Keep Safe initiative works organisations across Scotland, to create a network of safe places for anyone who feels lost, scared or vulnerable when out in the community.  The Keep Safe Ambassador programme was developed in 2016, supported by COPFS and trained young people to recognise what hate crime is, the impact and the importance of reporting. The partnership with Police Scotland supported the initiatives to grow to over 1000 places and over 1500 young Ambassadors across Scotland, with I Am Me providing all administrative, funding and management support for the initiative.   In 2025, Keep Safe was transferred to Police Scotland, enabling the Charity to focus on the interactive learning platform providing early interventions and prevention through education.

The Charity has continually been recognised for the incredible work of the team and volunteers and has received 21 recognition awards, including the prestige Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2018.  Our founder, Carol Burt-Wilson was recognised in the Queen's New Years List 2019 and received an MBE for her voluntary work and the commitment and services to disability hate crime prevention.