How can we make sure that we engage disabled people in regeneration?
What does the law say?
In December 2006, a new Disability Equality Duty was introduced. Public bodies now have a legal duty to involve disabled people.
Even without the legal duty, it is best practice to make sure that disabled people are involved. The regeneration of communities will be more effective and the quality of your services will improve if you fully understand the needs and experiences of everyone in the community you work with.
Top tips
There’s lots of guidance on how to engage disabled people. But here are a few quick top tips to get you started:
• Remember people are individuals – it might sound obvious, but clearly disabled people all have different life experiences, so people’s views and needs will vary. People will also want to be involved in different ways.
• Engagement is a long term process – it can take time to build up links with specific target communities. You may need to build up trust and capacity within a community group, before you can even begin talking about service planning and delivery.
• Commit to taking action – there is no point engaging people in discussions about services, if you don’t plan to act on their views. Make sure you have a clear commitment to taking action based on what you find out.
How can I contact local disability groups?
Getting in touch with local groups can be a good way of making initial contact with disabled people in your area. To find out if there are active disability groups in your area, use Inclusion Scotland’s online Directory of Disability Organisations.
Where can I find out more?
The Disability Duty and Involvement – lots of useful guidance from the Disability Rights Commission on how to effectively involve disabled people.
Consulting disabled people: a practical guide – a simple checklist which is useful to help planning events with disabled people. It was produced by Leeds City Council for its staff, but would be very useful for all service providers.
Involving disabled children and young people – interesting findings from a study of two projects working with disabled young people.
Inclusive consultation: a practical guide to involving people with disabilities – the section on choosing an effective consultation method is particularly useful, with advice on ensuring that methods are accessible and appropriate.
