Scottish Government

chapter four: developing the involvement of disabled people during the life of the scheme

Building on the disability working group

4.1 The disability working group's report and the Executive's response were published in November 2006 and the group's recommendations have been crucial in helping the Executive to determine some of its priorities for promoting disability equality. These are reflected throughout this scheme.

4.2 The disability working group was also asked to develop proposals for longer-term mechanisms for engagement with the disability sector. This part of the work is ongoing and further work is planned in 2007 to develop proposals as to how this would work. This will help the Scottish Executive strengthen the involvement of disabled people in the delivery of disability equality.

The British Sign Language ( BSL) and Linguistic Access Working Group

4.3 Our BSL and Linguistic Access Working Group has been meeting since 2000 and is now entering an exciting new phase of work. We have created a new post of BSL and Linguistic Access project manager, based in the Equality Unit, for an 11 month period from January 2007. The project manager we have appointed has extensive experience in the deaf field. She will be responsible for driving the work of the group forward, and delivering a 'roadmap' for improving linguistic access across the Executive by the end of 2007. The group is made up of organisations representing Deaf BSL users, as well as people who are hard of hearing, deafened and deafblind, many of whom do not sign but who use other forms of communication. This work will strengthen the involvement of Deaf BSL users, as well as people who are hard of hearing, deafened and deafblind.

Supporting disability-led organisations

4.4 We already support national disability-led organisations such as Inclusion Scotland and the Scottish Disability Equality Forum, to help develop the capacity of their members to engage with the Executive and other public bodies. We are keen to look at ways that we can further support disabled people and their organisations so that they can engage effectively with us.

4.5 In response to recommendations within the disability working group report we have made the following commitments:

• to work with disabled people to commission research to map the disability sector. This will increase our understanding of the capacity of disability organisations to engage with public bodies. This work will be commissioned early in 2007; and
• to build the capacity of disabled people and support their involvement in the implementation of the disability equality duty. We will work with national disability led organisations to develop our approach to implementing this recommendation and will do this early in 2007.

Involving a wider range of disabled people

4.6 The Executive is keen to engage with a wide range of disabled people covered by the Disability Discrimination Act (2005), and to ensure that we take into account a range of perspectives, which may vary according to the nature of the disability. We acknowledge that there are some groups of disabled people we have less experience of working with and we are actively addressing this.

4.7 We are exploring ways that we can work with impairment-specific networks of disabled people to see how we can involve them in our work. We are keen to include disabilities that may not be well represented within the groups who are already involved in our work. Some of these groups represent people who may not necessarily see themselves as disabled, whose disability may be hidden, and who may choose not to disclose their disability for fear of discrimination.

4.8 For example, we have identified that we need to work more closely with people with learning disabilities, and those with long-term conditions including HIV. We are also discussing ways that we can build on the work funded by the Executive's Mental Health Division to help us to involve people with mental health problems in our work. We have had initial discussions to look at ways that we can engage more effectively with all of these groups of disabled people and we are currently developing firm plans to develop these relationships further.

4.9 We are also providing funding to Communication Forum Scotland for a project to work with people with a variety of communication support needs. The project will run between January 2007-March 2008 and aims to develop a network of individuals with communication support needs and to work with them to help them actively engage with public bodies, including the Executive.

Involvement of disabled people in the work of Scottish Executive departments

4.10 We recognise that the involvement of disabled people historically and in the development of the scheme varies across the Executive. While some policy areas - such as transport - have well-established links with disabled people who help to advise/steer their work, others are less used to working with disabled people. Even in areas where there are effective working relationships with disabled people, this may be restricted to certain types of disability, and may not take account of the wide range of interests.

4.11 The Equality Unit is looking at different ways to support departments to involve disabled people in their work.

Short-term support

4.12 As the individual action plans show, many departments have already made a commitment to take steps during the first 6 months of the scheme to help them to involve disabled people effectively and appropriately. The Equality Unit is looking at ways that we can support, not only those who already have set out their plans, but also the departments who have yet to determine what immediate actions they might take to help them begin to improve their approach to engaging with disabled people.

Longer-term support

4.13 We have identified the need to ensure that the effective involvement of disabled people and other equality groups is strengthened and maintained in the long term. A proposal to provide further resources to this end is being considered.

Action to develop the involvement of disabled people during the lifespan of the scheme.