The Scottish Government

The Disability Equality Duty - Get Involved

Report of events with disabled people

The Equality Unit held three involvement events in September 2006 with disabled people across Scotland. These events were organised by Inclusion Scotland, the Scottish Disability Equality Forum and the Scottish Council on Deafness. The purpose was firstly to identify how the Scottish Executive should involve disabled people in the development of its disability equality scheme; and secondly to identify disabled people's priorities for action. We also asked participants to think about how the Scottish Executive should promote positive attitudes towards disabled people and promote the participation of disabled people in public life. Some disabled people who could not attend the events contributed their views in writing by completing and sending in a Get Involved form. And one organisation contributed its views through a DVD.

The views reported below are those of disabled people.

What are the 3 key priorities for disabled people in Scotland?

• Equality and Integration - the main priority of disabled people in Scotland is to feel equal. Disabled people want to have equal opportunities under the social model and be respected as individuals.
• Access - one of the largest barriers to successful inclusion is lack of access to work, all health/public services and information on all issues in the appropriate format. A very important part of access is transport (public and private, including taxis) and housing for independent living. Taxi drivers need proper training on disability and action should be taken to increase the availability of accessible taxis at short notice.
• Awareness - often integration is hindered due to lack of information about disabled people's requirements. This includes negative attitudes and discrimination towards disabled people and communication barriers through lack of understanding and/or proper technical resources.
• Education, Training, Work - access to mainstream educational courses (as opposed to classes solely for disabled students) and workplaces in general could be improved through provision of technical assistance. There should be easier and quicker access to equipment in the work place. Other support in the form of financial contributions towards travel costs and confidence building courses would be useful.
• Representation - Many disabled people themselves, and disability organisations, are not given an appropriate forum to have their views and opinions aired. Where forums do exist, representatives may be selected for partisan views.
• Funding - Many disabled people and disability organisations have experienced reductions in services offered by statutory authorities. At the same time, central and local government funding to voluntary sector organisations, who are being encouraged to become service providers, has been unable to keep up with demand, and is often awarded on a 'short-term' or 'temporary' basis. The whole funding system needs to be looked at and rationalised.

What should the Scottish Executive do to ensure that disabled people are involved in policy making?

• Consultation and Involvement- disabled people, disability groups and other voluntary organisations should be consulted in steering groups and other public forums. It is important that disabled people themselves make the contributions and not only professionals who have an interest. Efforts should be made to involve individual disabled people who may not have made contributions previously in order to improve diversity of information. There should be an obligation to build capacity and provide support to enable people to be involved. Provision should also be made to hire full-time consultants from the disability community to liaise with a varied selection of other members of the disability community (e.g. hard-of-hearing/BSL users/deafblind/people with physical impairments/etc.) and advise on related issues. Any volunteer consultants should have their travel/accommodation expenses paid. Any monetary reward given to participants should not cause problems with benefits.
• There needs to be greater emphasis on putting the establishment of representative groups (based on specific geographical areas and/or specific disability groups) on a more formal basis, with representatives having access not only to officials but also to politicians and policy makers.
• The disabled community should have representatives in local and national government (including MSPs).
• Information regarding policies should be made available in plain English and in the appropriate accessible formats i.e. BSL, large print, etc. There should be more interactive involvement via the web. Umbrella organisations such as SCoD could be used to disseminate information.
• There should be more deaf-led consultation groups. Due to the high cost of communication support services, hearing people are often chosen to lead groups.
• Younger disabled people should be involved in decision making as members of the next generation.

How should the Scottish Executive promote positive attitudes towards disabled people in Scottish society?

• Lead by example - Disabled frontline staff should be employed and full communication support should be supplied at all events/meetings/functions.
• Encourage broader debate in the media - the public should be educated in the wide range of disabilities (not all of which are immediately apparent) and emphasis should be placed on what could be possible if services such as transport and community care were more accessible. Positive role models should be publicised - not just famous faces, 'local heroes' should be praised for small victories. The "See Me" campaign could be extended to other disabilities - short and snappy adverts put in between longer commercials. Images of disabled people could be used in all publicity materials for all manner of mainstream products in a normalised way rather than in material which targets that particular community. Publicity should be inclusive whilst avoiding tokenism.
• Positive initiatives such as Learn to Sign Week should be promoted and funded.
• Disabled people should be given the opportunity to show the positive aspects of their lives, rather than being seen as 'victims' or recipients of pity or charity.
• Education - Efforts should be made to combat discrimination and abuse through education. Educational materials could be published including videos, pamphlets and magazines. Disability Equality Training should be integrated into the national curriculum starting at a young age and monitored by the HMIE inspections.
• Improve the self-esteem of disabled people - in order for disabled people to be seen in a positive light by other members of the community, it is first necessary for them to see themselves in that positive light. Many suffer from low self-esteem and depression and much could be done to improve their attitude by working with them to improve access and inclusion.
• More inclusive education - with sufficient provision, disabled children and adults may be incorporated into mainstream learning environments. This would provide an ideal first-contact situation for many people and promote diversity in the classroom. However, in order to succeed in this, class sizes must be reduced to a maximum of 20 pupils.
• Disability Equality/Awareness Training (DET) should be given to workers, especially in the public sector, to publicise the issues of communication support and access, and to ensure a more holistic approach. All front line staff should know how to communicate with Deaf and hard of hearing enquirers. For example, there is a promotion in Glasgow city council to introduce Deaf awareness and basic sign language training to front line staff. There is a recognized need for more DET trainers so investing in people who teach others how to deliver the training is very important. Disabled people themselves should be DET trainers, although this may induce extra costs if an interpreter is required for deaf people etc. Attitudes/knowledge of services available should be monitored. DET should be introduced in universities and schools at the earliest stage possible - by the time children leave school they should have had that training.
• Funding should be made available to organisations to carry out DET. Rather than creating additional funds, this may influence the use of existing funds. Existing budgets should be designed to improve existing work. Departments question the cost-effectiveness of BSL training or Deaf awareness since staff may not see a deaf person for a long while, after which they have forgotten what they learned.
• More disabled people should be hired as actors/presenters for mainstream television programmes.

What is the best way for the Scottish Executive to encourage disabled people to participate in Scottish public life?

• Transport - financial assistance could be given with travel expenses and public transport should be made fully accessible. Local as well as national travel should be enabled.
• Buses - Often only room for 1 wheelchair per bus. More should be accommodated. Drivers start the vehicle moving before people have had a chance to sit down.
• Taxis - There should be more wheelchair-accessible taxis. Drivers should receive training on disability awareness and how to manoeuvre wheelchairs (perhaps experiencing being in the wheelchair themselves). Often taxi firms have only one taxi accessible to wheelchairs so advance booking is required. Service often stops early (5pm) prohibiting evening journeys. Firms should do a home visit for new regular customers to assess their individual needs. Drivers should leave extra journey time to make sure the wheelchair is secure and the passenger feels comfortable and safe.
• Building regulations should be brought into line with the DED and DDA planning regulations and this should be enforced. The presence of specialty provision (e.g. for the hearing impaired: loop systems, microphone systems, SMS telephone messaging, BSL interpreters, note takers, etc.) should be encouraged in all places. Not all disabled people require the same provision - even those with the same disabilities - and this diversity should be respected and, if possible, provided for. Existing provision could be improved, for example, many ramps in kerbs are the wrong gradient or have a lip which wheelchair users cannot negotiate by themselves.
• More inclusive public indoor and outdoor activities could be planned - possibly a disabilities roadshow.
• Positive images of disability should be promoted in the media and everyone should be informed of their rights and responsibilities.
• More opportunities should be offered e.g. the chance for young disabled people to shadow politicians, etc. as work experience to boost confidence.
• Barriers to equality should be removed: "Break down the barriers that are making us disabled."
• When meetings are arranged with disabled people, accessibility should be taken into account.
• Disability Equality Duty (DED) should be enforced and infringements publicised to 'name and shame' the organisations involved.
• Local Authorities should have to elect an officer in charge of disability issues. The DED compliance should be properly resourced and budget made available for this. The Scottish Executive should be encouraging compliance.
• Interactive elements of websites could be improved as a useful way for disabled people to access information.
• Independent Advocacy should be supported.
• Employ disabled people to monitor public bodies e.g. DSS, Social Services, DWP and health boards to ensure equal opportunities.
• Employment - Provide assistance to get disabled people into employment. The higher up in employment you go the more meetings are involved and where communication support is expensive, promotion opportunities are being denied.
• Research - There is a need for more formal research done by disabled people themselves in order to identify general areas of need, discontent or frustration. It is too easy for individual expressions of concern to be dismissed as 'anecdotal'.
• Adaptation of workplaces/education centres attracts people looking for adapted facilities who, in turn, enable those centres to apply for grants. For example, providing safety equipment such as fire alarms, which are adapted for deaf people, attracts deaf and hard-of-hearing people. These people then attract funding which pays for the system installed that attracted the people in the first place. It can begin to set balls rolling.
• Subtitles should be available for all television programmes. There should be more BSL interpreters on mainstream news and television programmes, and in films - not just in the middle of the night.

Scottish Executive

Equality Unit, October 2006