I think the way this incident is portrayed is misleading. The bottom line is this judge said something stupid and insensitive during a committee internal deliberations and the only reason this came out to the knowledge of the victim and the rest of the world is because her lawyer decided to make it a headline news.
The victim was suing social security to recognize her as a victim disabled by hate crime because that would make here entitled to certain funds and benefits for life. The point the judge was trying to make is that her lawyer must show that she was not only a victim of a hate crime but also prove that the assault had left her disabled (in her case it's psychological/mental disability that she claims).