Convenor's Report to AGM, 9th July 2001

This occasion of our AGM has been chosen to re-launch the organisation, which had barely got started before events overtook us. Thank you for your loyalty, and for bearing with us through what has been a very difficult period for our fledging organisation. It is said that adversity breeds strength - well if this is the case, we must be the toughest group in the country. We had barely got started when our original mandated Secretariat disappeared - it left us without any means of financial support for more than 6 months at a particularly vulnerable time. Despite this, the Management Committee worked on, lobbying everyone we could think of for help - refusing to let the Forum die without a fight. This was made possible, temporarily, due to the generosity of their parent groups, paying their own travelling expenses, or donations from some other member organisations. I, as Convenor, would just like to say a personal thank you on behalf of the Management Committee for answering my plea for financial help.

This first year has had its ups and down in more ways than one, but finally our tenacity has paid off, and after many delays, our new Secretariat, provided by SCVO with funding from Scottish Executive is in place, and thankfully these difficulties are behind us. I am glad to report we are now entering a positive phase with a clear way forward to achieving what we originally set out to do. Those of you who attended the recent Research Conference at Heriot Watt will know from the Minister Jackie Baillie's speech that it has been decided to fund both the SDEF and Inclusion Scotland on a short term basis until the situation becomes clearer. This gives us a breathing space which we must exploit, and means the future is now very much in our own hands, and we must seize this opportunity with both hands to prove to everyone we have the ability, commitment, drive and ambition to achieve anything we set out to do. I cannot stress strongly enough, that this is a vital proving time for us, and is not a time to falter.

It is our strongly held belief that there is strength in numbers, and that organisations working together (however diverse they may appear on the surface) as long as they have similar aims and a common goal, are able to exert more power and pressure. With this in mind, we have made approaches to several established consortia with positive results. Rest assured this can be done without compromising our own deeply held convictions, that our destiny lies in our own hands. The furtherance of this aim was another reason for inviting our speakers and workshop leaders to-day.

As we now embark on a more positive future, I ask for your continued support. The topics for to-day's conference were carefully chosen to focus on, and highlight issues which affect the lives of everyone, but can impact significantly, and probably disproportionately on the lives of disabled people. I hope this proved to be the case, that to-day has been stimulating, and that improvements as discussed in these areas, will be reported to people of influence and result in the improvements we seek.

Elma Mitchell MBE, Convenor

Scottish Disability Equality Forum

Working together for the disability movement

SDEF is a recognised Scottish charity no. SC031893

end of page