What we learned
Five common themes emerged from the consultation:
- 1. Isolation
- 2. Accommodation/support
- 3. Speech and language/communication
- 4. Employment and education
- 5. Respite care
To clarify, isolation refers to the isolating effect of the disability in terms of its capacity to remove an individual from fully engaging with society. It also refers to the perception of people working with disability either formally in an organization that supports people with a disability or informally as a carer or family member working in a caring capacity.
When asked to prioritize the themes in order of importance most respondents suggested an aggregation of the five into an overarching theme of integration. In addition that the overarching theme be subdivided against age, gender, ethnicity and philosophical perspective e.g. medical and social models.
Based on the pre-project consultation the theme of the city centre was subdivided into three sections:
- 1. Going out – a place to go?
This theme emerged from the consultation process that isolation was and is a recurring issue for people with a disability. These stories try to examine what is available within the city for social networking opportunities and how conducive the city is to evening activity both in terms of physical access but also the attitudes of other members of the general public to people with a disability.
- 2. Walk in my shoes – a journey around the city centre
Physical access remains a significant issue for people with a disability ranging from the hill based topography of the city to the fact that despite the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act many business premises remain inaccessible due to steps etc. at the entrance. The stories in this section try to replicate the access issues that young people with a disability encounter within the city centre.
- 3. Moving on from school to where?
The lack of adequate provision for work based learning or further education opportunities was highlighted as an acute problem for young people with a disability most notably at the transition stage of leaving school. Whilst there are a number of excellent facilities within the city the respondents to the consultation reported that there was not enough. The stories in this section reflect present work based learning and further education opportunities, the quality of the work on offer and the alternative for those young people who are unable to secure a place.
