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The Group for Solicitors with Disabilities (GSD), in association with Equal Ability CIC, held a two day conference on the 22 and 23 February 2008. It explored the Duty to Promote Disability Equality, in the legal arena and wider public sector, and other issues of interest to disabled solicitors. It provided an opportunity for GSD members, and those concerned with disability equality, to discuss issues in both structured and informal settings.
A conference report will be issued soon.
Equal Ability CIC has been working closely with InterContinental Hotels Group 
(IHG) for over two years on their accessibility strategy. On 29th November 2007 IHG won the Gold Accessible Tourism award at the Visit London Awards 2007 held at IndigO2 at O2. This follows the previous award where the Holiday Inn Bloomsbury in London had won a Gold award for Best Disabled Facilities at the Meetings and Incentive Travel Awards on 19 February 2007.
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The photo above shows Deborah Evans (left) Senior Tourism Development Manager at the London Development Agency, Sue Maynard Campbell (centre) MD Equal Ability CIC and Carleigh Chadwick (right) Accessibility Manager UK and Ireland for IHG, at the Visit London Awards 2007.
See details of the'Hoists in Hotels Project' here or visit our Community Project website www.CHuC.org.uk
Equal Ability CIC is one of the UK's leading disability consultancies. On 24 November 2005 the limited company was registered as a Community Interest Company. It is now owned and managed for the benefit, principally, of the disabled community. By this we mean those who have an impairment or long-term medical condition and experience exclusion from mainstream society, or from any specific activity their non-disabled peers can enjoy, by reason of a lack of access or acceptance.
Because the disabled community exists in all sectors of society Equal Ability CIC will, as a result, also undertake work that will benefit other disadvantaged sectors of the community such as those who are unemployed, lone parents, from an ethnic minority, and so on. We can therefore also help organisations meet a wider equality and diversity agenda.
We continue to provide consultancy, training and other resources to organisations as we have done since 1992. Currently we are working with a number of public authorities who are developing their Disability Equality Scheme in response to their new duty under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005.
However, our new status will enable us to expand our work with disabled individuals. In our submission to the CIC Regulator we set out our principal activities as follows:
Disability Equality based Training for organisations and individuals
Disability equality training assists people to understand how the structures and attitudes in society lead to discrimination that disables people with impairments and long-term medical conditions. It can be applied to any aspect of life, but the public sector is where our principal focus will be.
Peer support and training for disabled people
Very many people with impairments and medical conditions experience discrimination. Many do not recognise this and are, as a result, unable to take appropriate action to combat it. We support disabled people to understand their rights and how they can be used to combat the discrimination that disables them.
Research, particularly into the disabling barriers within society
Those working in the field of disability equality are well aware of the extensive and complex nature of the barriers disabled people face. However, providing those creating those barriers with the up to date experiences of disabled people can be an extremely telling way to get them to take action to dismantle barriers.
Consultancy on disability focused projects
Through consultancy we can assist organisations to effectively plan the removal of barriers and the greater inclusion of disabled people by tackling issues such as physical access, policies that lead to exclusion, and staff attitudes.
Projects that further the inclusion of disabled people
These projects include publications, web based information, events, and so on, to increase the public's awareness of how access for disabled people can be provided.
Our TRAC Direct website continues to give business, and statutory service providers, information and access to advice on reasonable adjustments. TRAC Direct helps you discover how meeting your obligations under the DDA need not cost thousands.
Equal Ability CIC is still run from our Yorkshire (UK) offices - centrally placed to serve the UK and beyond. We are a business and we know the potential impact for businesses, small and large, of the changes made by the DDA. The difference is, disability as a business issue is our business.
Copyright
All material on this site is copyright to Equal Ability unless otherwise indicated. We are normally fairly generous about people using our materials, but we do ask that you contact us first and get appropriate permission.
