The website for the Regional Disability Network West Midlands is now online at:
The website has been set up to provide information and discussion for disabled people and disability organisations across the West Midlands region. It is funded by BASIS 1 of the Big Lottery Fund. We hope to provide up-to-date news on disability issues and also a forum for people to exchange views and opinions and contribute to debates and consultations from a local level to a regional and even national level.
Collective activity based on consensual communciation always affects change
We hope that through this website disabled people will find a new collective voice across the West Midlands region and start to have an influence on specific issues affecting themselves and other disabled people and also on the wider accessibility of all policies and decisions made by regional agencies.
The Regional Disability Network is recognised as the key cross-impairment (all disability) and user-led representational network in the region by Advantage West Midlands, Regional Action West Midlands, Destination West Midlands and the Equality and Human Rights Commission for the West Midlands.
Nothing about us without us
To coin the strap-line of the Disabled people's movement "nothing about us without us" - all regional bodies wishing to engage with disabled people in the West Midlands in the future should put the RDN at the top of their mailing lists. All disability organisations should consider signing up as members of the Network to receive regular updates about activities, resources, consultations and events.
Not dead yet
A number of years ago several organisations of disabled people went out of business due to funding and infrastructure issues with very little support coming from funding bodies, local authorities, statutory agencies or from the government. Many people said things like "well the Disability Discrimination Act has done it's job, disabled people are now enjoying full equality and access, so therefore there is no further need of representational user-led groups".
However, disabled people have continued to experience poverty and exclusion. Vast amounts of public finance has gone into the drive to get more people off welfare benefits and into employment, yet the unemployment rate amongst disabled people has not significantly altered possibly because many government funded schemes are missing fundamental concepts such as how to make employment sustainable, how to give gradual incentives and support to people wishing to trial work, how to create a wider range of flexible employment opportunities (e.g. homeworking and social enterprise) and why employment must be linked to wider things such as independent living, public transport, housing, etc.)
The government has finally, through various recent papers, recognised that the best people to consult and involve in the development of new services and interventions around disability are disabled people themselves. But there needs to be a greater commitment to supporting the local groups and networks from which this first hand knowledge and expertise is gleaned. Many regional agencies and local authorities have acknowledged that there has been a void in the past few years in terms of knowing how to engage with disabled people through at least vaguely democratic mechanisms, this is especially true of the Disability Equailty Scheme duty where the majority of public bodies put great efforts into designing their schemes but have done very little with them afterwards or have turned to single impairment charities or the private sector to tick their boxes.
There is also an emergent will on the part of disabled people's organisations to work in closer partnership with a wider range of other organsiations, as long as resources are being put in place to increase the participation of disabled people, through training, mentoring and financial remuneration to individuals and infrastructure support to organisations.
Information increases knowledge and knowledge empowers
The project itself is providing infrastructure support to sub-regional and local groups of disabled people, more information about this service will appear on the website in due course.
The website uses an accessible and uncomplicated format and has access options for people with visiual impairment. It is also accessible for screen reader software. The site is in early stages in terms of content but our aim is to get it up and running with plenty of useful information and lively discussion as soon as possible.
Please visit the site and give us your feedback or even join up to the network.
Pete Millington - Manager of the RDN-WM project
Based at Council of Disabled People Coventry and Warwickshire
pete@cdp.org.uk
0 comments:
Post a Comment