Disability Equality Scheme

- Foreword from the Chair of One North East   
- Executive Summary 
- One North East and our Disability Equality Duty
- Introduction to One North East
   - One North East’s Guiding Principles of Disability Equality  
   - The Social Model of Disability       
   - Deaf Culture          
   - Independent Living         
   - Inclusive Design         
   - Disabled People in other Communities of Identity and Multiple Oppression                 
   - Cultural Equality       
   - Disabled People in the North East – overview    
   - How we have worked for Disability Equality so far
- Why are we promoting equality of opportunity?
   - How will we achieve our aims?       
   - How will we promote positive attitudes?     
   - How will we eliminate discrimination?     
   - How will we eliminate harassment?      
   - How we will achieve equal participation in public life?
- Involving Disabled People in our Disability Equality Scheme
   - How have disabled people been involved in developing this Scheme?
   - What is the leadership of the Scheme?          
   - Disability Equality and One North East employees      
   - Using our resources effectively to meet the Duty   
   - How are we going to meet the Duty?      
   - Using procurement to meet the Duty     
   - How will our staff gather information?     
   - How will we make use of the information we have gathered to meet the Duty?   
   - Implementing the Scheme, how will we know it is working? 
- Monitoring, evaluation and review
   - What we will report every year      
   - The next One North East Disability Equality Scheme
- The Disability Equality Action Plan, Targets and Milestones 2006-2009 

Foreword from the Chair of One North East

One North East is committed to equality for all our people and that includes equality for disabled people of all ages, who work, live, learn, play and visit the region.  As the Regional Development Agency, we want to promote equality and lead the way in achieving real and sustainable access and inclusion for disabled people.

The importance of equality and diversity is recognised in the Regional Economic Strategy, which includes this dynamic and bold vision for the North East:

The North East will be a region where present and future generations have a high quality of life. It will be a vibrant, self-reliant, ambitious and outward-looking region featuring a dynamic and economy, and a healthy environment and a distinct culture. Everyone will have the opportunity to realize their full potential. 

The responsibility for disability equality will be led at the highest level by the Chair and the Chief Executive.   John Holmes as the Disability Champion will oversee the monitoring of the organisation’s disability equality strategy, to ensure we are taking action and that the steps we are taking are working to promote equality of disabled people.  

The Disability Equality Scheme shows how One North East will fulfil the general and specific Duties to promote equality of disabled people. In addition, we are committed to fully embed and deliver the Duty in our mainstream work.

The Scheme has been produced in partnership with disabled people from the region, who have been central in the development of the Scheme. We will continue to work closely with disabled people to deliver disability equality successfully in the next three years.  We welcome your comments about the Scheme

Signed:  

Executive Summary

The North East has a population of 2.6 million, of which over 590,000 are disabled people.  In the North East, people in 26% of our households are in receipt of one or more disablement benefit, compared to 16% of households in the UK.  
 
Disabled people want to be equal members of our community and have the same right of access to mainstream services and employment as the rest of the population, yet still experience inequalities in their life chances, exclusion and inaccessible services. 

In its report “Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People” (Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, 2005), the Government sets out its vision of disability equality,

“By 2025, disabled people in Britain should have full opportunities and choices to improve their quality of life and will be respected and included as equal members of society”.

One North East wants our region to lead the way in delivering equal life chances of our disabled people and disabled people who visit the region. 
To do this, when we carry out our functions, we will meet the Disability Equality Duty we have as a public body.  We will have “due regard” (more than just consideration) to the need, in relation to disabled people, to:

• promote equality of opportunity
• eliminate unlawful discrimination
• eliminate harassment related to disability
• promote positive attitudes towards disabled people
• encourage participation in public life
• take steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities, even where that involves treating disabled persons more favourably 

All of these steps will help us, over the next three years, to meet the general Duty to promote disability equality. 

Delivering and sustaining effective Disability Equality Schemes over the next three years will empower disabled and Deaf people and create access and equality in work, have dignity in their communities, equal chances in employment, learning and services, so that they can take an active role in improving their life chances and aspirations.  This will help to bring confidence, skills and prosperity to the region.

Over the three years of this Scheme, One North East will have appropriate, accessible services, equal, fair employment and a diverse workforce that reflects the community it serves.  It will use its role as an opinion leader and influencer to ensure the subregional partnerships and other organisations it works with also meet the Duty. 

One North East has already delivered some good initiatives around disability, but recognises that more work needs to be from an equality, human and civil rights perspective, in order for us to effectively meet the Duty.  We will work to ensure every disabled person visiting and living in the NorthEast is treated with dignity, courtesy and respect.  We will challenge the victimisation, harassment, segregation, discrimination and oppression of disabled people in the community, services and the workplace. 

We will work to tackle exclusion and disadvantage and reduce discriminatory attitudes to disabled people through information partnership working and through procurement.  We will use our leverage to help our partners, stakeholders, funded organisations and contractors follow our lead to making a difference. 

We will promote and deliver a culture and ethos which is equal and inclusive for disabled people and consider the disability dimension of our strategies, investment and economic development in the region.  This will help us fulfill our main aims as the Regional Development Agency and improve the success of the North East as a whole.

One North East and our Disability Equality Duty

One North East welcomes the disability equality Duty, which was introduced in Chapter 13 of the Disability Discrimination Act (2005). 

One North East has a general duty, as a public body, to promote disability equality.  To do this, when we carry out our functions, we will have “due regard” (more than just consideration) to the need, in relation to disabled people, to:

• promote equality of opportunity
• eliminate unlawful discrimination
• eliminate harassment related to disability
• promote positive attitudes towards disabled people
• encourage participation in public life
• take steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities, even where that involves treating disabled persons more favourably

All of these steps will help us, over the next three years, to meet the general Duty to promote disability equality. 

One North East recognises that it cannot achieve equality of opportunity simply by treating disabled and non-disabled people alike.  

One North East will mainstream disability equality into all decisions and activities. Where our services, employment or work has a high impact on disabled people, or where disabled people are underrepresented and where there is a high proportion of disabled people in our communities, our due regard for disability equality in our actions will be greatest. When we can change how we work or our policies to lead to significant benefits to disabled people, this change will have added weight balanced against other considerations.

One North East will also ensure the Sub Regional Partnerships and other organisations who deliver functions on our behalf give due regard to disability equality and we will monitor their performance towards meeting the Duty. 

This Scheme shows how One North East will have due regard to disability equality when we make decisions about the future and deliver our services, but we will also to take action to tackle the consequences of inequality in the past.   This includes closing gaps in experiences and opportunities between disabled and non-disabled people. 

Over the next three years, we will work to remove and prevent barriers, to deliver the equality of access, services and employment that is needed to ensure that people are not disabled by the actions or omissions of their Regional Development Agency. 

Introduction to One North East

One North East is the Regional Development Agency. We help the people of the North East create and sustain jobs, prosperity and a higher quality of life.

One North East’s vision is “To be the best economic regeneration Agency in the UK”.

The Agency and its regional partners are judged on the improved economic performance of the region. This involves raising employment levels, the ability to attract more people back into the region’s workforce and boosting the confidence and well-being of the region. We also safeguard and enhance the environment, both rural and urban.  

One North East devolves three quarters of its spending to its four Sub-regional Partnerships of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Tees Valley.  With the remaining quarter of its funding, One North East delivers economic development.

One North East has a plan of how the region will grow employment, business and tourism until 2016.  It is called The Regional Economic Strategy (RES).   It focuses on economic development, people, participation and aspirations of young people, a wider global context and a new emphasis on the importance of leadership. 

Our Corporate Plan shows how we are going to deliver the actions. We have put these actions under three headings Business, People, and Place. Click here to see the diagram that shows what One North East and its partners are doing.

One North East works in partnership with local agencies and voluntary organisations, the Government Office for the North East, health Trusts and others. 

Almost every function of One North East has an impact (either positive or negative) on the lives, equality, access, inclusion and chances of disabled people.  This starts with, but is not limited to equal access to:

• Business and Enterprise
• Investment in the Region
• Innovation Industry & Science
• Leadership, development, skills and training
• Addressing economic inequalities
• Regeneration – urban and rural 
• Culture and Tourism
• Promoting the region nationally
• Partnership working / influencing regional partners
• Procurement of goods and service

One North East is committed to economic and social development of disabled people in the region.  We want to keep disabled people living, learning, working and investing in the region, with choice, quality of life and independence.  The Disability Equality Duty helps us do this. 

One North East’s Guiding Principles of Disability Equality

What is Disability Equality?

Disability Equality is the full opportunity and choices for disabled people to improve their quality of life and be respected and included as equal members of society.

What is disablism?

Disablism is discriminatory, oppressive or abusive behaviour arising from the belief that disabled people are inferior to others. ‘Institutional disablism’ describes a whole organisation’s disablist attitudes, practice and culture.

What are One North East’s Guiding Principles of Disability Equality?

In 2004, One North East adopted the Social Model of Disability at Board level, to inform its work. We developed a strong Disability Equality Policy framework, working in partnership with user-led organisations of disabled people in the region.  

By adopting the Social Model of Disability, we recognise and accept our Duty to remove the organisational, attitudinal, cultural, financial, intellectual, sensory or physical barriers which disable people.

Through this Scheme, we will go further to mainstream these principles of disability equality, to ensure our functions are more likely to be efficient and relevant to a large population of disabled and Deaf people.

The principle of the Social Model of Disability underpins the Disability Equality Duty and informs our delivery of services as well as equality in the workplace.  Adhering to Inclusive Design principles will ensure our delivery of physical, sensory and intellectual access in the workplace, projects and regeneration. 

The Social Model of Disability

The Social Model of Disability is a way that disabled people explain how discrimination occurs. 

The model explains that badly designed buildings, services or information, stereotypes and negative attitudes that disable people.  It is other people, their prejudices and organisations with discriminatory working practices who create barriers, which prevent disabled people from having a full and equal quality of life.

One North East therefore uses the term, “Disabled people,” that disabled people have chosen for themselves, to acknowledge the barriers in society and organisations disable people.

For example, if the most skilled, qualified candidate for the job is disabled, but is not recruited because the application process is not accessible to them, or because the recruiter believes the person cannot do the job because he or she is working to discriminatory specifications or assessing the person by a stereotype and not their skills and competencies, then it is the attitudes in the organisation, not the candidate’s impairment, that disables them.

People are disabled by the lack of access to information. When an organisation fails to consistently make information available and independently accessible, for example in Braille, audio, EasyRead or British Sign Language, it leads directly to health inequalities, social exclusion, unemployment, poor outcomes for the whole community and disempowerment of disabled people.

The outdated 'Medical Model' of disability, focuses on the impairment of the individual as the core of the problem, believing  it to be necessary to 'normalise' the individual. This is rejected by organisations of disabled people, because it leads to segregation, denies human rights, degrades people and does not require change in society.

The difference between these models is eloquently demonstrated by Jenny Morris, when she explains,

“ Policy makers and professionals tend to use the term complex health and support needs but it is not really people’s needs which are complex, rather, the systems and services that they have to negotiate to get their needs met are complex.”¹

A third model recognises both the impact of the impairment and the impact of societal barriers.² 

One North East promises that due regard for a Disability Equality perspective, and the elimination of disablism, will be incorporated into all initiatives.  It will ensure its staff are diverse, trained, passionate about disability equality and confident in their understanding to be able to deliver on the Social Model. 

¹  Morris, J. (1999) ‘Hurtling into a void: Transition to adulthood for young disabled people with complex health and support needs.’ Pavilion Publishing
²  DRC, 2003.

Deaf Culture

One North East pays due regard to the barriers faced by deaf people, in a way that encompasses the whole range of deafness, including disabled people who have become deafened or hard of hearing due to age related hearing impairments. 

People who wish to be referred to as Deaf people (with a capital letter ‘D’), belong culturally and linguistically to the Deaf community, which has a distinct culture and its own language, British Sign Language (BSL).³ 

One North East recognise that when BSL is a Deaf person’s first language, the person may not have equal access to printed information and may therefore be excluded from jobs, services, information, engagement events, public life, being involved in making policy or even just making a complaint. 

Through the Scheme, One North East will take due regard of the needs of BSL users, other people who require access to communication and have preferred methods of interpretation, such as requiring lipspeakers, deafblind people’s interpretation or cued speech transliterators (this is not an exhaustive list). 

However, it recognises that in delivering its Duty, independent, dignified access to information for all disabled people,  will be best served by its own staff enhancing their communication tactics, skills and confidence.  This will be prioritised as an organisational need, in our training provision.

One North East also has due regard in ensuring that its service provision and employment practices are culturally appropriate to the needs of disabled and Deaf people.

³  CACDP, 2005

Independent Living

Currently, most disabled people in the UK do not have control, freedom or choice over their own lives.⁴   The access to health care, human rights, housing, having a family, getting a job or having career aspirations are restricted by organisations and society.

A common misconception was addressed in a DRC Policy Statement,

“Independent living is not the name of a particular type of service but it should be the purpose of all services.” ⁵

Person-centred planning starts with the individual and takes account of their wishes and aspirations.  This can include travel, tourism, leisure, work and other life decisions.  In gaining freedom, disabled people must have informed choice, which necessitates independent use of accessible information, available when timely. 

Barriers to independent living have traditionally included assumptions about the type of information disabled people need.  One North East will involve disabled people to ensure it does not make these assumptions and provides independent access and choice.

⁴ Scope, (2005)Time to Get Equal
⁵ Disability Rights Commission - Policy Statement on Social Care and Independent Living, 2002

Inclusive Design

Inclusive design as a principle is recommended by the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC):

“An Inclusive Environment … should consider people’s diversity and minimise unnecessary barriers and exclusions, something which will often benefit society as a whole. It should certainly address the fact that many people currently remain unnecessarily ‘disabled’ by the design and management of existing environments.”  DPTAC, 2004.

A building, project or information designed inclusively from concept stage will give massive advantages to its users, as staff and/or members of the public.  Inclusive design incorporates not only physical but also intellectual, attitudinal and sensory access at all stages of a project. 

Disabled People in other Communities of Identity and Multiple Oppression

Disabled people do not exist as a homogenous group with uniform needs and views.   In addition to considering accessibility of services, information and employment, One North East will use the Scheme to further understand the diversity of people in the communities we serve and the barriers that exclude people who face multiple oppression. 

Most disabled people will have different experiences of our services or employment opportunities because of their gender, age, sexuality, religion or ethnicity.

For example, a disabled person is between two and five times as likely to be out of work than a non-disabled person, and on average earns two fifths less than a non-disabled person doing a similar job.⁶  A woman on average earns 17% less than her male counterpart ⁷, so the chances of a disabled woman receiving equal pay for equal work are hugely weighted against her.  In addition, women, disabled people from minority ethnic communities and disabled workers are disproportionately represented among the beneficiaries of the minimum wage.

Disabled people of all ages who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender also experience multiple barriers to effective information and employment as well as harassment.  Many do not therefore disclose their sexuality to public bodies.⁸ 

In addition, disabled people can face multiple exclusion and not protected by other strands of equality legislation.  For example, disabled looked after children, people who are travellers, drug users, prisoners or ex-offenders and looked after children, are amongst the most vulnerable to discrimination and the barriers caused by  inequalities in our society, but little research exists into their requirements in our region.  Government’s Social Exclusion Unit estimates that almost three quarters of those in prison have two or more mental health disorders.

Children and young people are also increasingly disabled.  Estimates of up to one in five children and young people having significant mental health problems has increased over the last 50 years.⁹  

In 2004 a Joseph Rowntree Foundation working paper concluded that projects and services were most successful where they responded from the outset to the complexity of participants’ identities, multiple support needs, culturally appropriate services and experiences of multiple exclusion.¹⁰ 

Improving the life chances of excluded people and their inclusion in society will enhance the quality of life for all our communities in the region.

⁶ DRC, 2003
⁷ Women and Work Commission Report, 2006
⁸ First Out: Report of the findings of the Beyond Barriers National Survey of LGBT people – L Morgan and N Bell (2003, Beyond Barriers)
⁹ Children with long-term disability in the former Northern and Yorkshire NHS region (NEPHO, 2003)
¹⁰ Singh, B. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2004

Cultural Equality

Disabled people in the North East have their own strong artistic and political heritage, arts, civil rights movement and culture. 

As a celebrated and successful part of the cultural economy of the NorthEast, the artistic and cultural equality of disabled people is crucial. 

Disabled artists provide high quality diversity, identity and history in our region, but they often have to travel elsewhere to build careers. They should be supported, promoted, developed and showcased in the NorthEast and the profile of Disability Arts and Culture must be raised as part of our Duty to promote equality. 

In addition, the accessible arts environment in the region must be improved in ways that ensure that the cultural identities and representation of disabled people are part of our cultural landscape.  We will advocate that the public art and organisations we sponsor meet the Duty in working with disabled artists, audiences, advisors, managers and Board members.

The Human Rights Act 1998 protects all our fundamental Human Rights in the UK and places a duty on public authorities to apply the rights.  Among the rights are the right to live free from discrimination, for everyone. 

The Act has implications for the adequate provision of access to ensure that people's human rights and dignity are respected in decisions that will impact on them.  Although not a legal requirement, One North East will include human rights in our Equality Impact Assessments.

Disabled People in the North East – overview

The North East has a population of 2.6 million, of which  over 590,000 are disabled people.  The region has a higher proportion of households with more than one disabled person in them than any other region in the UK.¹¹  22.7% of people in the North East report long-term, limiting illness, compared to 18.5% nationally.¹²    

In addition, people in lower social-economic classes are more likely both to be, and to become disabled, and disabled people are more likely either to be or become lower class.  In 2001, 8% of people in Social Class I were disabled, compared to 24% of people in Social Class V.¹³  In addition, people from poorer areas are likely to have less access to information and services.¹⁴ 

17.9% of our population of disabled people in the North East are of working age, compared to 13.60% nationally.   As a proportion of the working age population, disabled people are less likely than non-disabled people to be working in the public sector, reflecting widespread and long-standing inequalities. In 2004, only 12% of disabled people had public sector jobs in the UK compared with around 19% of non-disabled people.¹⁵ 

In a 2004 survey, 32 per cent of all economically inactive working-age disabled people said they would like to be in paid employment, compared to 26 per cent of non-disabled people.¹⁶  This makes the employment of disabled people a high priority for One North East to action through the Disability Equality Schemes.  

However, our knowledge about disabled people in the region comes largely from statistics about people who claim state benefits. 

One North East needs to understand its populations and experiences of disabled people more clearly in order to understand where its resources can be used to be most effective.  It has commissioned a user-led mapping report as part of the development of this Scheme.

It will commission disabled researchers during the Scheme to deliver this research about their own communities and secure the views of a diverse range of disabled people, including the underrepresented and most excluded. For example, black mental health service users, disabled entrepreneurs, disabled tourists, young people and leaders are almost invisible in much evidence in the last five years in the region.  As a region, we have little knowledge of how extensive the equal pay gap is between disabled and non-disabled people.

This Scheme provides a vehicle for understanding better the needs of employees, service users and excluded disabled people in our communities.

¹¹ Economic and Social Research Council, 2005
¹² Source: Family Resources Survey, DWP, reported in ONS, 2004.
¹³ Department of Health, 2001.
¹⁴ National Audit Office, 2004
¹⁵ Hirst, M and Thornton, P. Labour Market Trends, vol 113, no 5.
¹⁶ DRC, 2004. 

How we have worked for Disability Equality so far

Economic Inclusion

One North East are funding the newly created North East Equality & Diversity Board, the four objectives are:

• To maximise the economic benefits Equality & Diversity for the region (through increased levels of participation)
• To promote the social cohesion, equality and diversity
• To strengthen the engagement and participation of under represented individuals and groups in regional policy making and development
• To raise public awareness of, and developing information, advice and guidance, on rights and responsibilities in respect of equality and diversity.

Addressing Worklessness

Improving access to employment for economically inactive people is key to enabling continued growth of employment in the region, as well as to maximising the overall well-being of those people.
 
Up to 60% of economically inactive people in some areas of our region receive Incapacity Benefit and face persistent barriers in entering the labour market. One North East is committed to eradicating discrimination and removing barriers that result in worklessness.  We are working with partners such as Jobcentre Plus, Local Authorities, LSC and those from the voluntary and community sector to provide the appropriate guidance and training.  Improving access to employment for those who are economically inactive is key to enabling continued growth of employment in the region, as well as to maximising the overall economic success of the region.

Three worklessness pilots have been developed as part of the Northern Way Growth Strategy, designed to test enhancements to the JobCentre Plus Pathways to Work programme.  They aim to find efficient and effective ways to increase the rate at which long-term Incapacity Benefit claimants are supported into employment. The learning from these pilots will be used to influence the roll-out of Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) policy. 
Tourism for All Success October 4th

One North East hosted a major regional conference in October on improving accessibility for disabled visitors. Almost 150 delegates from tourist attractions and accommodation providers across the region joined tourist organisations to look at ways of making the North East England more attractive to disabled visitors.

Inclusive Design

As part of our commitment to implement the DDA 2005 Disability Equality Duty and the research commissioned by the Disability Rights Commission to look at the ways RDA’s promote inclusive design principles through their work, One North East commissioned an inclusive design champion to assist the agency to respond to the Inclusive Design agenda.

All projects must identify through the Design and Access Statement how they have responded to the Inclusive Design agenda. 
 
In addition a statement to show how the Scheme meets the requirements of the Building regulations and DDA is required.  This must identify how the project meets One North East statutory duty to promote equality and take account of people’s impairments by describing how the project team is equipped to respond and documents the decision making process that has had due regard for the needs of disabled people.

All One North East buildings have an access audit completed.

Public Relations

North east Deaf group Becoming Visible enlisted the help of One North East to celebrate the British Deaf Association’s ‘Learn to Sign’ Week. They have adopted the ‘Passionate about sign language’ and ‘Passionate about BSL’

One North East is a major sponsor of the DNEX- a large disability aids and adaptations conference in the region.
Sustainability Development Toolkit

A review of our Sustainability Development Toolkit is being undertaken which includes a Stronger emphasis on:

• Statutory responsibilities for Equality Impact assessment
• Deprived communities and addressing inequalities
• Considering environmental quality and quality of life for deprived and excluded communities
• Access to housing and mixed tenure developments
• Identifying business opportunities in deprived areas
• Appraisal of distributional impact to avoid adverse impacts on the most deprived groups and areas.
• How projects will meet the Duty to promote equality.
• Increasing voluntary and community engagement in those at risk of social exclusion

Why are we promoting equality of opportunity?

One North East is passionate that disabled people should have full opportunities, access and choices to improve the quality of their lives, and be respected and included as equal members of our region and communities.  Disabled people have a strong and important part to play in the economic and social regeneration, performance and success of the North East. Promoting equality will give us the chance to make this a reality.

How will we achieve our aims?

One North East will achieve its aims by delivering the steps that are set out in our Disability Equality action plan. 

This plan will help us perform effectively, for disabled people and the whole community, as well as to use our influence to promote equality with our partners.  Through our Disability Equality Scheme, we will narrow the gaps between the access, equality, satisfaction and achievements of disabled people and non-disabled people in the region.

One North East recognises that we cannot achieve equality of opportunity just by treating disabled and non-disabled people alike. 

How will we promote positive attitudes?

One North East will work to promote positive attitudes towards disabled people.

Over the next three years we will identify and deliver work to eliminate ignorance, pity, fear, stereotypes and prejudice in the wider community.   

We reject stereotypes and will work with disabled people to ensure we include positive, non-patronising, equal and aspirational images of disabled people in public life in our publications. We will consistently use positive language, chosen by disabled and Deaf people themselves.

How will we eliminate discrimination?

One North East will work hard and consistently to create a culture of equality and eliminate unlawful disability discrimination in the way we work and everything we do, including employing people.

The steps we will take to do this are set out in the action plan.

How will we eliminate harassment?

One North East does not accept harassment (for example verbal abuse).  It will also work to eliminate harassment of disabled people in the region, by influencing partners and changing cultures through its work.  One North East will not accept or perpetuate degrading, humiliating, patronising or oppressive language about or images of disabled people that are not chosen by disabled people themselves. 

We will work with our partners to make communities safer and eliminate hate crime against disabled people. 

The steps we will take to eliminate harassment are in our action plan.

How we will achieve equal participation in public life?

One North East understands how important it is that disabled people participate in public life.  Disabled people must be able to represent their own communities and organisations, both of identity and where they live and work, because:

• The region will be more diverse and relevant with more disabled people at every level of public life
• We want to reflect the communities we serve
• Disabled people have valuable experiences to bring to public life
• When disabled people participate, it encourages positive attitudes and reduces harassment and disablism
• It will help us meet our Duty to promote disability equality

One North East will ensure its own structures are accessible to, representative and inclusive of disabled people. This includes our Board, focus groups, leadership networks and employees groups, not just limited to equality and diversity.  We will influence our partners and the programmes we fund to ensure they also encourage participation.  We will monitor and evaluate our performance, to ensure our learning is fed into the reviews and targets of the Scheme each year. 

The steps we will take to deliver equal participation of disabled people in public life are set out in the action plan.

Involving Disabled People in our Disability Equality Scheme

British Council of Disabled People say,

“Not about us, without us.”

One North East is only able to identify barriers and prioritise disability equality effectively, in partnership with disabled people, for and beyond the whole life of this Scheme.  This involvement will be influential in affecting our plans and will increase our understanding and confidence about the access and equality of disabled people. This understanding will help us build sustainable good practice into planning, employment and delivery of economic and social development and regeneration.

 “Involvement” is a more long term, supported, sustained active engagement of and partnership with disabled stakeholders than “consultation”.   This involvement will help redress the under-representation of disabled people generally, in positions that determine policies and priorities of public authorities. 

It will be equal and accessible to a range of disabled and Deaf people, including learning disabled people, users of mental health services, people with cancer, disabled people of all ages and people who may be historically underrepresented in involvement.   We will also include disabled people who have an interest in the way we carry out our functions, in the development of the Disability Equality Scheme. 

We will also ensure the inclusion of disabled people within mainstream consultation strategies in relation to all functions.  We will ensure access requirements are reasonably anticipated and met, so that people can participate fully.  

One North East will develop or adopt user involvement protocols for both commissioning and monitoring services, for the whole Agency and its Sub Regional Partnerships, with disabled people, as recommended by the report “Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People” .

Disabled people have been involved in all key aspects of the development of the Scheme, not just at the start, such as sharing with us the barriers they face, making recommendations, writing the Scheme with us in close partnership and setting the priorities for the action plan. 

One North East will also bring together disabled people as a representative Reference Group to sustain involvement for the life of the Scheme.  Through the life of the Scheme, these disabled people and their user-led organisations of disabled people, will work with us to conduct impact assessments, gather evidence, monitor our success and evaluate, review and revise the Scheme.  We will not make decisions about what disabled people want or the best way to do things; we will ask.

Disabled staff and their union Disabled Members Group will also be involved; their views will be valued and fed into action.

One North East also recognises that by involving disabled people in its Duty and encouraging their participation in public life, it can meet some of its own objectives.  By sharing participative action skills with disabled people of all ages in a user-led environment, people will gain leadership skills, and people’s self esteem, confidence, portfolio of skills and experience towards employment are improved.  An obvious, but necessary statement, is that disabled people do not always belong to organisations of disabled people, or identify as disabled in many cases and must be engaged in other settings and ways to ensure people representative of the whole community are involved. 

We are committed to:

• Involving disabled and Deaf people at every stage throughout the Scheme, from a Social Model perspective, to change attitudes, identify barriers and deliver improvements
• Ensuring monitoring, evaluation and targets are transparent, explained clearly and determined with the disabled and Deaf people we serve and employ
• Engaging in a way that values disabled and Deaf people’s experiences and fosters dignity and respect
• Working hard to sustain involvement over time

How have disabled people been involved in developing this Scheme?

One North East has involved disabled people at the heart of the Scheme.  This has been at every stage, including planning, development and actually writing of the Scheme in partnership with Vision Sense, a user-led organisation of disabled people based in the region.  Disabled people were involved in user-led discussion groups in accessible venues around the region, where BSL / English interpretation, palantypists, lipspeakers and personal assistants were provided.  Interviews were held with organisations of disabled people, disabled people in work and disabled people out of work.  Over five hundred disabled people were given the opportunity to complete surveys, in a range of formats, including EasyRead, Braille, electronic, large print and community languages.  We had a 26% response rate. 

Many changes were made in the planning as a result of the involvement of disabled people, including:

• User-led disability equality training for staff
• The centrality of a civil rights based approach
• Planning of work in departments for the Scheme, such as redressing the historical lack of aspirational representation of disabled people in our publications
• Access provision for events and information which were facilitated by disabled people
• Higher priority on disclosure for disabled staff
• The presentation of this document summary in BSL
• Participative workshops, surveys, safe spaces and discussion groups across the region
• Meeting the access requirements of disabled and Deaf people appropriately to facilitate independent contributions to the project
  By triangulating the information available from a range of sources, the balanced combination which has informed this Scheme is an optimal one.

This involvement helped us begin to ensure that disabled people’s needs, recommendations and identities are embedded in the Scheme.  Our strong commitments will be supported and delivered through sustainable involvement and partnership working for the life of the Scheme. 

What is the leadership of the Scheme?

The One North East Chair is committed to the Duty and will demonstrate to the whole organisation and its partners the importance of successful implementation of the Scheme.  We will need robust mechanisms to deliver on the Duty in the next three years. 

A Champion for Disability Equality at Director level, John Holmes, will monitor and support delivery of the Scheme, as well as requiring reports.   He is responsible for ensuring that the necessary resources and expertise are made available within the organisation.

The Chief Executive of the Agency has demonstrated the public commitment to disability equality and is implementing well-defined structures to deliver a highly effective Scheme.  Lines of responsibility are shown in the Action Plan. 

Disability Equality Champions within each area of One North East (who will receive user-led disability equality training) will be led and supported from the top of the Agency.  These Champions will support, challenge and promote change.

One North East recognises the importance of establishing robust mechanisms for the development and delivery of a disability equality strategy. 

The Head of Human Resources, will monitor and keep under review the organisation’s recruitment and selection procedures to ensure that we operate non-discriminatory employment practices and procedures. This post holder is also responsible for monitoring recruitment and retention of disabled people in the workforce and the provision of reasonable adjustments, as well as reporting to the Board Champion.

All staff will have responsibility for implementing the Duty in their work.

Staff responsible for marketing, production, design and writing of publicity, information, job application information and documents will ensure that information is made available on request in accessible formats, and advertised appropriately as such.  In addition, information will not use negative or offensive language, terminology about disabled people and will use positive, representative and inclusive images of disabled people.

Officers responsible for procurement and partnership arrangements must champion disability equality and access for disabled people, as far as possible within the legal procurement framework.

In addition, we believe that the Trade Unions are key partners in promoting and ensuring adherence and commitment to the Disability Equality Scheme.

Disability Equality and One North East employees

Best practice demonstrates that having a working environment which is free from discrimination and which promotes diversity, enhances efficiency, staff retention and morale for the organisation and for individuals.

In a recent independent survey by disabled people, to support the development of the Scheme, One North East staff were asked anonymously if they considered themselves to be disabled.  They were given information about the Duty and told how we would use the information to improve the employment equality of disabled people, through the Scheme. 

The results illustrated that six percent of our employees consider themselves to be disabled people, whilst over 22% of our employees have a long term health condition.  Only 5% of our staff preferred not to tell us. 

However, we want to foster a culture of trust, where all of our staff know they are valued and have confidence that we will meet our duties to them.  We also want our disabled staff to know their rights under the DDA and to be treated with dignity and respect at all times.

One North East is committed to equal employment and having a workforce that is valued and reflects the community we serve. 

During the life of the Scheme, we will pay due regard to the effect of our culture, practices and procedures on our staff and job candidates in all areas and at all stages of employment.  The steps we will take to do this are set out in the Action Plan.

In giving regard to employment issues, we will involve workplace trade unions and their disabled members.

Using our resources effectively to meet the Duty

One North East has a responsibility to spend public money well and efficiently.  We want our resources to be effective in meeting the Duty and creating change.

We will have due regard for the Duty in our spending and ensure adequate resources to address the diverse needs of disabled people in accessing our functions.  This includes access and communication costs and capacity building.  We will carefully design initiatives, vary the use of existing resources to be inclusive in how they are spent and develop so that we can constantly improve how hard our resources work to meet the Duty.

How are we going to meet the Duty?

One North East will use every step in our Action Plan to meet our Duty.

In addition, we are using impact assessment as a tool to help us mainstream and embed equality, including equality of disabled people and the Duty, into everything we do.

Over the life of the Scheme, we will gather and analyse evidence of how we are performing and where more work is needed.

We are already working in partnership with disabled people, training our staff and involving disabled people further throughout the Scheme. 

We have set our priorities with disabled people and ask disabled people to review these each year.  We will also embed these priorities into our Corporate, Business and Directorate Plans.  We will influence the sub regional partnerships and other organisations we work with to close gaps in life chances, access and equality of the disabled people they serve, employ and who are in their communities.

Using procurement to meet the Duty

One North East will make sure our contractors, partners and organisations, who carry out public functions on behalf of One North East, are responsible for meeting the Duty in the work they do for us. 

We will embed our Duty in commissioning, procurement and monitoring processes and services, in relation to contracts, so that goods, works, services and staff of our contractors and organisations we fund can be used to promote equality of opportunity. 

We will do this involving disabled people, as is recommended in the report “Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People” (Strategy Unit, 2005).

The steps we will take to use procurement to meet the Duty are set out in our Action Plan. 

How will our staff gather information?

One North East will not only gather information for its own sake.  To be effective in our information gathering, we will be clear why we need the information, how we will use it and how performance will be measured over time. 

We will collect information to identify and understand the barriers disabled people face, what success looks like and the steps we will have to take to achieve it.  If we find patterns of inequality or gaps in provision, we will address them in our provision and inform that of our partners.

One North East already collects a myriad of data.  We will ensure where we can, that existing ways of collecting, service assessments, project evaluation and analysing data, complaints, grievances and comments, surveys will be used to promote disability equality where possible.  For example, we will collect information about services in a way that allows us to also capture the views and satisfaction levels of disabled people, to make the most efficient use of our resources. We will also build disability monitoring into our Quality Assurance systems. 
  
Equality impact assessment, delivered with disabled and Deaf people, is a tool to help us make sure we pay due regard to disability equality in our decisions and functions, but it is not an end in itself. 

One North East is impact assessing the effects of everything we do and everything we will do, in relation to the Duty to promote equality.  We will involve disabled people in this process so that we fully understand the barriers and solutions.

In addition, we using impact assessments to help us meet the Race and Gender duties, understand the implications of the Human Rights Act and other strands of equality legislation (for example, on religion and belief, sexual orientation etc). 
 
Strong impact assessment ensures we gather evidence on the impact of activities on disabled people, measure progress and gaps. It helps us:

• Identify gaps, negative impacts or missed opportunities in services
• Monitor success in employing, retaining and developing disabled employees
• Inform the design of services to ensure the full and fair participation of disabled people from the start
• Avoid expensive remedial work in initiatives which could have adverse consequences for disabled people

Actions arising from the assessments each year will be added to the action plan in the annual review of the Duty, because it is important to capture improvements made as a result of impact assessment.

How will we make use of the information we have gathered to meet the Duty?

We will use all of the information gathered to monitor how well we are performing to meet the Duty and our own targets, at least annually in our reporting on the Duty. We will also use it in mainstream service assessments, reviews, equality impact assessments and project design.  This will ensure we are avoiding and eradicating barriers in all our work and employment practices.

Reviewing the effectiveness of the steps in the Action Plan on a regular basis, with disabled people, will help us to prepare our next Scheme and improve targets for the years in between. 

We will use the information in identifying, minimising, removing, altering, reducing or overcoming any physical, sensory, attitudinal, organizational, cultural, financial or intellectual barriers that discriminate, impact on the life chances of disabled people and the success of our region. 

Implementing the Scheme, how will we know it is working?

We want disabled people to be confident that One North East is leading and delivering on its Duty and that our action plan is in fact delivering greater equality. 

Disabled people will experience greater equality and access over the life of the Disability Equality Schemes.  This will be a major part of the economic and social success of the whole region. 

One North East will openly ask disabled people to review our performance each year.  We want people to see what we have done to achieve equality of disabled people, how the impact of an action was assessed and why a decision was made.  Building in the Duty to service assessments and project evaluation, as well as reporting publicly on an annual basis, helps us do this.

Monitoring, evaluation and review

We recognize that best practice and the needs of our staff and communities change over time, so we will monitor and review the effectiveness of our Disability Equality Scheme from the highest level.

A Board Champion for Disability Equality has been appointed to monitor and support delivery of the Scheme, as well as requiring reports.  

The Chief Executive is implementing well-defined structures to deliver a highly effective Scheme.  Lines of responsibility are shown in the Action Plan. 
 
In addition, One North East’s Disabled People’s Reference Group will undertake independent reviews and evaluations of our services, functions, policies, decisions and employment. We want to know how our functions and the way they are delivered, each year, can promote equality and maximise real choice of disabled people.

Disabled people will evaluate our services and employment and advise us how we can best dismantle barriers, within One North East and in how you influence our partners and others.

We will benchmark with other agencies and measure ourselves against the standards in the Duty and set by our Reference Group members.

What we will report every year

One North East will publicly, in our Annual Report make a statement about progress towards meeting the Disability Equality Duty.

By 4 December each year, we will show the steps we have taken to deliver on our Disability Equality Scheme Action Plan, to eliminate discrimination and promote equality and announce the steps we have agreed with disabled people to ensure we progress and fill any gaps in the coming twelve months. 

Our Annual Disability Equality Duty report will also contain the results of the information-gathering and what it indicates, as well as what actions will be taken as a result of the information.
 
The summary will be made accessible in a range of formats on request (e.g. audio, large print and EasyRead).

This will demonstrate our commitment to making progress on equality for disabled people, and will allow our employees and the community to judge how successful One North East is at improving and delivering disability equality.

The next One North East Disability Equality Scheme

One North East will revise this Disability Equality Scheme a minimum of every three years. This means that our next Scheme will be developed by 4 December 2009 at the latest. The sustained involvement of disabled people between now and then will inform our reviews, targets and action.

The Disability Equality Action Plan, Targets and Milestones 2006-2009

The One North East Disability Equality Scheme Action Plan sets out the key actions we will take to promote disability equality.
It shows what we want to achieve, by when, how we will get there and how we will qualitatively measure progress.   Quantative baselines will be created in the first year of the Scheme, to measure progress against.  The Scheme also shows who is accountable for the actions. 

Every action has been informed, agreed upon and prioritised by disabled people, set inside the strategic framework and business planning of One North East.

The Action Plan will help us meet the Duty and transform the life chances of disabled people in the Region, without wasting resources.