SDEF events

Welcome to the 2^nd issue of our new style Newsletter � OPEN DOOR, or number 10 �in old money�.

I hope doors have indeed opened for you recently and your horizons are widening.

We would be grateful if you would give us feedback on content and style, e.g. what things you would like included or, for that matter, left out.� Please remember a door opens both ways and this is your way of letting others know of problems met and solutions found.� There are a few problems that have never been encountered before and someone somewhere will have found a way around them.� OPEN DOOR means just that.� We are all on the same team and we would very much like to include articles about members� activities and events and pass this on to others.� When we say we want to involve our wider membership meaningfully and want to hear your views � we mean just that.� The Board of Directors exists to carry out your wishes.�

Since we received the first instalment of this year�s funding, a lot of time has been taken up with progressing our current business plan, agreed by you.� This is: �research into special needs transport: and a toilet survey which enhances information already available, to reveal unmet needs.�

In addition, we have also put a great deal of effort into preparing a carefully, well constructed and balanced bid to become the Umbrella Group for the Access Panels.� This is something very dear to our hearts and something we have consistently championed and promoted for years. It has resulted in the research and progress so far. When the papers come through from the Steering Group, we hope those involved will give our proposals full-hearted support.� We cannot stress strongly enough that the result of the ballot is vital for future developments.�

The next event will be our A.G.M., and the outcome of the above ballot will have a strong influence on this.� If the decision is as we hope, support for SDEF, then there will be a great amount of work involved, with representatives from the panels themselves agreeing the next steps.�

However, holding true to our philosophy of being driven by our grassroots, we are appealing to our membership for advice.� Do you have any ideas for suitable, accessible venues � bearing in mind our membership stretches from Southwest Scotland to the Shetlands?� We are also looking for a lead on a theme and a Speaker, if this is your choice.� Perhaps you would rather just discuss subjects of general interest, which would then form the basis for future business plans.� This might encourage more involvement by the general membership.� Preparations will be starting shortly for this A.G.M., so please give these matters some thought and pass on your views to the office.� There will also be an election this year, so think about nominations.� More details of this will come to you later, with the formal papers.� It will be an exciting time to join the Board of Directors; �we would welcome committed, hardworking members and an injection of new blood.�

Remember, if you would like to talk to any of the Directors at any time, please ask at the office.� We are always at your disposal.�

Enjoy the holiday period and we hope to see you soon at the A.G.M. in the Autumn.

The Scottish Disability Equality Forum is honoured to announce that George Reid has agreed to become its Patron. People will know Mr Reid as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, but it is in his capacity as an MSP that he has kindly accepted our invitation. The SDEF is confident that Mr Reid�s enormous experience and knowledge of disability issues will greatly enhance our work. Below we give a brief resume of Mr. Reid�s career.

�� Producer and Correspondent with ITV and BBC in UK,�� Europe and Africa.�

�� MP (SNP) and Member of the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe and Western European Union 1974-79.�

�� Director of Public Affairs of the International Red Cross, Adviser to Javier Perez de Cuellar 1984-96.� He has served in wars and disasters world-wide.�

To David Grieve, a Director and the Treasurer of S.D.E.F..� David was presented with a Certificate by the Provost of Nithsdale, on behalf of Volunteer Action, for dedication and commitment as a volunteer with Dumfries & Galloway Coalition of Disabled People.� The presentation took place during Volunteer Week 1^st � 6^th June.�

David, (pictured below, first on the left of the photo) is also to be congratulated on his election as Chairman of the Council of Management of the Disabled Drivers� Motor Club at its A.G.M. on

To Kathleen Welsh of the Order of Malta � Dial-A-Journey, on being awarded an M.B.E. in the Queen�s Birthday Honours List.� Kathleen has given sterling service to the organisation and well deserves this honour.� We will be proud to hear Kathleen say, �My Buses are Excellent.�

�To Ron Skinner, M.B.E., who has been asked to a meeting of WESTMARC, to consider the setting up

of a Focus Group on the supply and maintenance of wheelchairs on a Scotland-wide basis.�

Any concerns regarding wheelchairs should be passed to Elma Mitchell or Ron at S.D.E.F..

The following letter was received by SDEF yesterday.� This letter had been e-mailed to MSPs and other organisations with an interest in disability issues.� It graphically highlights the issue being faced by those with disability who wish to further their education.� SDEF�s response to Caroline Barr�s request for help is to publish her letter to raise awareness of the situation.� Readers� comments would be most welcome.�

1.�� Did you know?�� That 35% of disable people of working age have no qualifications.

2.�� Did you know?� There are 96,000 registered wheelchair users in Scotland.

3.�� Did you know?� That the unemployment rate for disabled people is almost double that of non-disabled people.

4.�� Did you know?� That you can�t get statutory help with transport if you�ve got a disability and you�re accessing education, unless you�re doing an HNC, or above, course.

�

1, 2 and 3 are referenced from Promoting Rights and Participation 2003 the European Year of Disabled People.�

4 is from information gleaned from a Student Funding Advisor at Telford College.�

I am currently a student at Telford College.� I eventually want to go on to do an HNC, but to get onto an HNC course I need two Highers.� I would also like to finish off the course that I started last year, which is Counselling Skills and Social Welfare NC.� This is going to involve three to four days a week at college.� This is going to be impossible for me to achieve because I require a taxi to and from college, which is going to cost me �60 -�80 per week and, as I�m currently on income support, that will probably bankrupt me.� Sitting Highers and facing bankruptcy is not a prospect which I�m looking forward to.�

�Lifelong learning� is one of your buzzwords, as is �social inclusion�.� I think you should qualify this with �if it doesn�t cost us any money�.�

My dad and the Student Hardship Fund have offered to help me out, but I really do feel this should be statutory.�

I look forward to some support with this matter and a reply.�

Yours sincerely,�

C.W. Barr

The Disability Information Service is a part of Gordon Disability Action.� We operate throughout Aberdeenshire providing information, advice and support for people with physical and/or sensory disabilities.� We also help carers and their families.�

We have an up-to-date database providing information and advice.� We also have access to care data and we can help people or groups who are searching for funding, to find it with the help of Funderfinder.�

The Disability Information Service has recently been awarded an Internet Free Access computer, courtesy of the Scottish Executive.� The computer will be installed at our opt-in centre in Inverurie within the near future.� This is a great opportunity for people to access information.�

If we cannot provide you with the information you require we will introduce you to someone who can.�

Julie Burgoyne, Development Worker
Disability Information Service,
Unit 4�
Blackhall Industrial Estate
INVERURIE, AB51 4FS��
Tel: 01467 629909
E-mail: [email protected]

We have received an article from the Irish Republic, detailing the problems of a disabled man in finding accommodation. Anthony is currently homeless.�

I remember it well, 28^th November 2002 at 7.50 am., I was getting out of bed when my feet hit the water. It had rained heavily all night and my home of six years was beginning to flood and fill with a heavy, dirty silt.�

After about twenty minutes, I waded knee deep through the kitchen, watching mementos of my past float out the door. Unable to prevent the water rising, I felt sudden panic as I realised the problems I would face in finding other lodgings.�

As a person with a disability, I was acutely aware of the lack of understanding of our needs, the way we are automatically classified as something cloistered, cared for and a cause for pity. But I had built an independent life which involved growing my own vegetables and providing a home for rescued animals. I had worked hard to build my skills and hoped someday to enter the open market.�

My immediate problem was finding somewhere to live. I spent Christmas shuffling between friends and applying for grants. I couldn�t afford to rent social housing, but in Ireland we can apply for housing grants which I would be able to repay. I was informed, however, that I was ineligible because I was not in full employment. This is automatically discriminating against disabled people, as 93%, or 300,000 people, are not in employment.�

For eighteen years I had dreamt of the security and pride of owning my own home. However, the concept of Independent Living is relatively new and only in recent years has there been a European Directive for Disability Equality. �

Why then do studies show that disabled people are the subjects of discrimination? I was told that if I were pregnant, a traveller or a foreign national I would be given preference. Disabled people, however, daily experience discrimination in terms of attitudes, physical access, poverty and exclusion from the life of the community.�

Could it be that this is because so few disabled people have an input to legislation? We have limited access to education, training and employment because we are assessed against the mainstream, but equality of opportunity demands legislation which gives equality of access. Similar flexibility is required when framing legislation which creates services for disabled people and that means the input of people with disabilities.�

Currently we are celebrating the European Year of Disabled People and Ireland is hosting the Special Olympics in June 2003. This is not for the politicians, it is for us. For disabled people to advance we must have more input to the legislation which controls our lives. If I am wrong, why am I, a disabled person, homeless in Europe in 2003?�

�The Scottish Disability Equality Forum has been asked by The Scottish Executive to conduct a survey of Special Needs Transport in the former Central Region.�

This is provided locally by the Order of Malta Dial-a-Journey. With more than five hundred regular users of service and many hundred escorts, the organisation is kept very busy. People must book three days in advance and the service is strictly first come first served. The operation gives people with disabilities a measure of independence to carry out the types of travel most people take for granted.�

Dial-a-Journey also manages the local taxi-card system, hires self-drive vehicles, tests mini-bus drivers and operates regular school runs for children with any impairment or learning difficulty. In the school holidays it is able to use its spare capacity to offer people with disabilities longer excursions and breaks.�

People who know Central Scotland will realise that the area covered takes in both rural and urban areas. It will be interesting to find out if there are any lessons which can be learnt for similar initiatives elsewhere. The aim is to put the operation under the microscope and to listen to the views of the service users. The work will be undertaken by SDEF from a completely independent position and the approach will be to offer passengers the opportunity to give frank feedback on their experience of the service.�

For its part, Dial-a-Journey has welcomed a �warts and all� approach, with a view to turning any comments into positive action to improve services. The survey should take several months to complete and we will bring you more details when it is complete.

For some time the Panel of Reference has been concerned that Disability Living Allowance forms are not useful to people with mental health issues. The forms relate to physical disabilities, there being only one page for people who are mentally ill to complete.�

I fill in the form which consists of two booklets. The questions to be answered are of the kind, �Can you lift a bag of potatoes?�, �Can you walk upstairs?�, �Can you wash and dress yourself?� etc.. So many of these questions are not relevant and, while a number of people with severe mental health problems may be unable to do these things, the majority can. �

Many people who might be entitled to this benefit are refused and are forced to appeal. This causes such stress to them and their families that we feel the form should be amended, or a separate form developed.�

The problem appears to be commonplace and was confirmed by a recent meeting we had with the Division of Psychiatry. As the form seems irrelevant to their patients, we will be looking for their backing to try to get the form changed. We hope to get broad support to have it redesigned to accommodate all illnesses.

�The Course was organised by SCVO and the Steering Group on Access Panels, as part of the on-going work on the position of Access Panels in Scotland.�

I attended the second of the two courses arranged and held at RNIB, Dunedin House and the Apex Hotel, Haymarket, Edinburgh.�

We were welcomed by Andrew Jackson of SCVO, who introduced the Course Director, Kathryn Phipps and her assistant, Peter Hudson.� At the outset we were informed that no-one can train to be an auditor in three days, but the Course would raise awareness of what was involved in conducting an access audit.� We were each presented with a manual which would guide us through the three-day Course.�

I was very impressed with all the presentations and the easy manner of the �Tutor�, interspersed with pertinent anecdotes, which endeared her to most of her audience.� It was reassuring that we were not being �talked at� with a whole lot of information, but that she had personal experience of the problems and how they could be overcome.�

We covered all aspects of an audit � the whys and wherefores � Design and Disability (covering all forms of disability) � Legislation � Goods, Facilities and Services � Education � Public Transport � Design Issues � Reading Plans � Appraisal.�

We came to the thorny question of �tactile paving� and it was enlightening to hear that JMU could devote a whole day to this subject, as was also the case with colour contrast.�

At any access meeting I have attended, the topic that inevitably provokes most discussion is that of toilets.� On this occasion the subject was �for� or �against� peninsular layouts.� The case �against� could only have been dreamt up by someone who had no experience of transferring a person with a pronounced one-sided weakness onto a toilet stuck away in a corner.� A peninsular layout gives much greater flexibility of use to both the person as an individual, or a person requiring the services of a carer.�

It was rather ironic that the venue for the second day left a lot to be desired in terms of access, but it did provoke conversation amongst the participants and added a lot of weight to how essential an access audit was.� It gave us an opportunity to do some practical assessment on the spot.� The Course finished with a session on reading plans.�

It was three days well spent and I would thoroughly recommend to anybody involved with access to attend a Course, if the occasion arises.�

Since the Course ended, Kathryn Phipps has been promoted to General Manager of JMU and Peter Hudson will take over Kathryn�s responsibility for Scotland.� Our best wishes go to both of them as they take up these new responsibilities.�

�A single shared assessment is the assessment of a person that is person-centred, led by a single professional, with other specialists becoming involved as appropriate, with the results of the assessment being acceptable to all professionals in social work, health and housing�.�

If the term SINGLE SHARED ASSESSMENTS is broken down into its constituent parts it means:�

�� Has a lead profession who co-ordinates documents and shares appropriate information

The idea of a Single Shared Assessment came from the Scottish Executive in 2000.� There was a need to improve assessment systems as a way of improving joint working between social work, health and housing.� Prevailing systems were bureaucratic, engaged with the individuals on too many separate occasions and were often repeated because of professionals� reluctance to accept the views of others.� Moreover, their content and results were found to be inconsistent.�

�� People who use services, and their carers, should be actively involved and enabled to participate in the process

�� Assessment should be undertaken by the most appropriate lead professional

�� The assessor should be appropriately skilled and qualified to deal with the type and level of assessment

�� Appropriate information should be shared by the informed consent of the person or person�s representative

�� Single shared assessment must facilitate access to all community care services

Single shared assessment is for people with community care needs seeking help from social work, health or housing authorities, who may require the services of more than one professional discipline or agency.�

The introduction of a Single Shared Assessment will lead to greater communication and working between social work, health and housing.� It will prevent duplication and the unnecessary re-assessment of individuals.� It will also complement joint resourcing and joint service management.�

�� Avoid duplication of information given, and the number of�� assessments

This applies where indicated needs or requests for services are straightforward and can be dealt with by low level response.� As it may involve one or more agencies, some co-ordination of contributions to the assessment may be needed.�

This applies where a wider range and complexity of needs is indicated.� It is likely to involve more than one agency in contributing to an holistic assessment of needs.� Specialist input may be necessary to specific areas of need.� In comprehensive assessment, effort needs to focus on co-ordination of contributions to the assessment.� People who are at risk of admission to residential care or nursing home should receive a comprehensive assessment with care management and specialist input, if necessary, to explore fully the options for rehabilitation and care at home.�

This may apply to simple needs of a particular nature, or particularly complex needs requiring more in-depth investigation by a professional with recognised expertise.�

Is where people identify their own needs and propose solutions to them, as the sole assessment process, or in conjunction with other assessments.� They may receive professional advice, or the support of an advocate.�

Part of single shared assessment is allowing for information sharing and co-ordination of care between agencies.� There has been an information sharing protocol developed throughout local Health Boards and this will be part of the training given to people prior to implementation/involvement in single shared assessment.� There will also be a patient information sheet and the ability to share information will be by informed consent of the patient or their representative.�

Single shared assessment will begin to be rolled out in some areas by March 2003.� Our members are requested to find out what is happening in their local council/Health Board area and let SDEF know.

The Blue Badge Network, a national charity, was formed in 1991, and exists to keep Blue / Orange Badge holders up-to-date, through a quarterly Newsletter.� Subjects include legislation, information and ideas relating to parking badge matters and disability issues in general.� A telephone helpline is available, plus assistance given on an individual basis in various areas of expertise.�

Membership is open to any Orange / Blue Badge holder at �8.00 per year (Joint membership �10.00).�