Mum's horror as children start abusing her disabled daughter in supermarket - and their MOTHER joins in

For almost two years, Bethan Germon held vigil at her baby’s bedside as doctors told her little Lydia had just months to live.

Lydia was born with a rare condition called Dandy Walker syndrome, which causes a build-up of fluid to her brain, meaning her head can swell to nearly twice its usual size.

Now two, Lydia is miraculously still alive, but Bethan did not realise quite how hard life would be for her daughter outside hospital.

Hurtful and abusive comments both in the street and online are part of “everyday life”, she says.

“We spent 21 months of Lydia’s life in hospital and as soon as she got out last year we were like: ‘Yay! This is amazing. We can take her out and about,” adds Bethan, 30.

“But we didn’t realise we wouldn’t be able to go out without people laughing or pointing at her, or making abusive comments.”

She recalled one incident at a supermarket when two children started laughing at Lydia and stuck two fingers up at her.

Then, to Bethan’s horror, the boys’ mother starting joining in.

“I maybe expect that kind of behaviour from children, who don’t always know any better, but not from adults,” says Bethan, who has another daughter, Caitlin, nine.

“Kids are curious and want to know why someone is different but parents shouldn’t be joining in. One woman has looked at Lydia in her pram before and told me she was disgusting.”

Bethan, of Swansea, has also been inundated with vile messages from trolls online.

One read: “If that was my child I would let her die.”

They revealed disability hate crimes tripled in the space of just a year from 2015-2016 in London alone – including nearly 2,000 violent attacks on disabled people.

And it is not just disabled people being targeted. Metropolitan Police statistics show hate crimes in London increased by 21% in three years to 125,898.

Student Will Mayrick, 20, was choked by two youths and forced to apologise for being gay in a homophobic attack on the Tube in October.

He said: “It was really frightening. It is gutting to hear people are still experiencing what I went through.”

Bethan, whose website We Are Mum helps other parents facing similar experiences, says: “I felt desperately alone when the online abuse started, but talking to others can help you realise that you are not alone.”