The way in which these responsibilities are carried out is also important. The process should cover the following:
All key funders and commissioners in the area should be involved. As a minimum it should involve representatives from the local authority and the health board.
Providers of services should be involved to ensure that there is a seamless service for disabled people. For small organisations, compliance with Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act with regards to the range of impairments may prove difficult if they work alone. However, by working together in a co-ordinated way a range of agencies may be able to meet these needs. For example, one agency may take a lead in services for the visually impaired whilst another could address the service needs of people with impaired mobility.
It is very important to involve disabled people in both the planning and review processes.
Where forums of disabled people exist, these should be formally involved in the planning process. Where these do not exist they should be established. The make-up and manner of operating will need to take account of what exists and what can work within the specific location. These forums could also help statutory bodies to fulfil their obligations with regard to consultation with service users in other areas such as community care.
In addition to this consultative role, the active involvement of disabled people in such forums can be valuable where these forums have another role. We suggest that funding for a community advocacy role should be considered.
This could include the following:
- promoting access to mainstream services for disabled people,
- collating this information to advise service providers on ways in which policies and practices could be developed to improve the services received by disabled people,
- acting as a resource for other agencies with regard to disability equality training and accessibility audits for materials and premises.
A supplement to these Standards is Barrier Free Information – How to Develop Your Local Accessible Information Strategy. It is a practical guide for local authorities and others and is published by and available free from SAIF.
Go to the next page: Disabled People and their Representatives
(c) Scottish Accessible Information Forum, 2007
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