Disabilities and Social Inclusion: a Conversation

Stillorgan Park Hotel
25th March 2010

Introduction

This meeting was organised by the Social Inclusion Unit of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (Rebekah Fozzard). The Unit is committed to the full inclusion of all people in the County. The conversation brought together people with disabilities and representatives from organisations working with people with disabilities, together with two researchers, Wendy Cox and Liz Chaloner.

Wendy and Liz are undertaking a ‘disability services mapping exercise’ for the Council. They are gathering information from the many organisations that provide services and support to people, with a wide range of disabilities, in the county. Once this information has been brought together, a directory will be compiled. This directory will list many of the disability-related organisations and services that are available in the County.

The idea of the ‘conversation on disability’ was to help the Council’s thinking and planning in general, as well as gather useful views about the planned directory. The organisers hoped that participants would contribute their experience, ideas and suggestions for improvements and practical actions. They also wished to provide an opportunity for people to meet and network with each other. Twenty-four people participated, including people with disabilities, advocates, service providers, and a number of County Council staff.

After a welcome from Rebekah, and a short introduction from Liz and Wendy about the meeting, the mapping exercise, and the directory, participants were asked to have conversations about:

• The proposed directory of disability-related services
• Key factors which enable people with disabilities to ‘live life to the full’
• Actions which could make the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown more disability-friendly

Participants sat at five round tables, each with a ‘host’ to facilitate conversation. To encourage mixing, half of the people at each table were asked to move to the next table when a discussion was complete. Each table was asked to agree three priority points from each discussion, and these were fed back to the whole group.

The hosts kept notes of each conversation, and these, along with the 3 main points they set out, are the basis for this report. Summaries of responses to each question follow.

Question 1 :

DLR Social Inclusion Unit is planning to produce a directory of organisations and services for people in the county living with disability and long-term conditions. What kind of a directory do you think would be most helpful?

Participants at the meeting welcomed the plan for a directory, because good information is really important. Some people were surprised that a directory like this doesn’t already exist! Everyone agreed on a number of points:

• Keep it simple! was the strongest message. This means plain English, good layout (use of graphics, large print, good spacing), and providing basic information only, as the directory is just a first step for users.

• A print version and an electronic version are both needed. Both need to be very well organised, so users can easily find what they’re looking for.

• Both versions should be accessible to as many different people as possible (e.g. the web version could have an ISL-signed introduction).

• It must be updated regularly (so organisations can update their own information each year), and it should also be possible to expand to include new services and organisations.

• The title should not say ‘disability’ , but should sound more positive. Suggestions included: ability, access, enable, inclusion, support (though some participants disliked ‘support’).

• There will be a wide range of users : people with disabilities and long-term health conditions, friends and family, people who provide information and advice (including GPs and other health staff), staff of the Council etc.

• Remember this is a local directory for the county, helping people access organisations and services in their local communities, so transport information is important. One idea is to group (or cross-reference) the organisations and services by local area.

Many other ideas about the directory’s content were suggested, including:

• Organisations dealing with mental health must be represented.

• All disability-friendly services and organisations should be there, including: community groups, Citizens’ Information Centres, arts organisations, sports bodies, education, training, and supported employment opportunities, etc.

• The directory should include basic information about accessing general health services (GPs, primary care services etc.) and about social welfare entitlements relating to disability and chronic ill-health etc.

Question 2 :

What are the most important things that make it possible for someone with a disability or long-term condition in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown county to live life to the full?

Two main topics emerged from the discussions about positive and negative factors:

(1) access and accessibility and (2) attitudes and awareness

• Access and Accessibility:

Without access, people can’t have any independence, and can’t participate in society or achieve their goals. Access includes:

• Access to information.
• Access to services of all kinds.
• Access to resources, including (for people with disabilities) Personal Assistant support and/ or assistive technology resources.
• An accessible home - the first essential for an individual’s independence.
• Access to the outside environment - this includes accessible buildings, signage, public transport, bus stops and rail stations, safe pavements and road crossings, good public lighting, public toilets, adequate parking at venues, visible and audible emergency signals etc. Designing for accessibility benefits everyone, not just people with disabilities.
• Access to political participation (voting), to education and training, to work, to social life, to sports, and to arts and leisure activities.

• Attitudes and Awareness

There is a need to increase public awareness and understanding of disabilities and long-term conditions (e.g. deafness and acquired brain injury).

It is everyone’s responsibility to be inclusive and recognise the dignity of each individual. Schools should promote understanding (especially of mental health issues) and inclusion from an early age, state agencies and businesses have special responsibilities, and mainstream organisations should think about their outreach to people with disabilities. Real change is needed, ‘no tokenism’!

(3) Some other important points that were made:

• Social interaction overcomes isolation and breaks down barriers. Educational, sporting, cultural and leisure activities should be integrated, creating ways to bring people together, rather than separating them.

• Work (preferably paid) that is valued both by the individual worker and by society is key to independence and integration. However there are not enough opportunities, or enough appropriate training and mentoring.

• Consultation in advance with those who will be using a building or other facility is obviously essential, but doesn’t happen often enough.

• Advocacy and self-advocacy are important. ‘Stand up for yourself!’

• Change depends on people working together, at local level and as partners. It also requires patience on everyone’s part.

Question 3

Can you suggest actions that could be taken by

You

Your organisation

The county council

to make Dún Laoghaire Rathdown as disability-friendly a county as possible?

(1) The main points relating to actions individuals could take were:

• It is important to recognise and nurture everyone’s ability.
• We should challenge ourselves and others regarding our own intolerance.
• Networking and informing ourselves about disability issues is essential.
• We should highlight issues and complain, but also suggest solutions.
• Patience is crucial! Sometimes people with a disability panic if they feel they are being rushed by others.

Increasing links within the community was a common theme, and some of the actions planned or suggested were about this. They included: making links with local neighbours with special needs; fund-raising for the Special Olympics; and speaking to a local group on behalf of a disability-related organisation.

Participants stressed how important it is to recognise a person with disability as an individual, with needs which are particular to them. We should never make assumptions about someone’s needs without asking them first.

Everyone in the community is responsible. We must all stop, think, and act, and we must not always leave it to people with disability to challenge and to change things.

(2) Some of the actions that organisations could take:

• Promote social activities and networking.
• Focus more on work, training, job coaching and pathways to real work.
• Engage in education and awareness-raising generally to promote positive and inclusive attitudes. This should start in schools from an early age.
• Practical service provision is very important
• Give time to people with disabilities to express themselves. We could use slogans in the workplace such as ‘What’s the rush?’ to help others realise that not everybody moves, sees, hears, and speaks at the same pace.
• Organisations could and should put pressure on the County Council to make improvements for people with disabilities.
• Organisations should collaborate on issues locally and nationally and form partnerships to work on important issues.
• Organisations should listen and respond to what people with disabilities want, and design policies which are based on consultation.

Other suggestions for organisations included:

• Paying attention to the use of negative signs and language (e.g. the symbol of the ear with a line through it).
• Some participants felt that the word ‘disability’ itself excludes people.
• Organisations intending to include people with disability in meetings and events must develop good ground rules about how they run their meetings. These should include respect, careful listening etc.

(3) Participants then suggested a number of actions for the County Council:

• Continue with practical changes in the County which improve access.
• Promote community audits of accessibility in local neighbourhoods, which is also a good way of raising awareness.
• Enforce the existingregulations.
• Implement the Council’s own Accessibility Implementation Plan (2009).
• Use the Disability Consultative Group more effectively.
• Create and support partnerships between groups and people so they can work together on disability issues.
• Publish names and phone numbers of the people who are points of contact within the Council, and their responsibilities. Ensure that people get a prompt response when they make contact.
• Action!! Ensure that focus groups are not just ‘tick the box’ exercises. We will happily give our time and expertise to the Council if the Council listen to what we say and undertake some actions that we suggest.

 

Wendy Cox and Liz Chaloner

April 9th 2010