Welcoming disabled people and being inclusive for all.
Working towards the Disabled friendly award
Charities whose work we appreciate
Parents and Children Together PACT – an adoption charity and family support provider which helps hundreds of families every year through outstanding adoption services and award-winning therapeutic support and inspirational community projects across London and the south of England. PACT is one of the UK’s leading independent adoption charities, placing children with secure and loving families and supporting them with specialist therapeutic support. Their award-winning FACTS service includes counselling, Theraplay, creative art therapy and life story work which help children to overcome difficulties in childhood, adolescence and early adulthood which have resulted from early trauma and neglect. Calibre Calibre Audio Library is a national charity providing a subscription-free service of unabridged audio books for adults and children with sight problems, dyslexia or other disabilities, who cannot read print. A national charity, Calibre lend audiobooks to over 14,000 members across the UK and EU and now in countries that have ratified the Marrakesh Treaty. Members range in age from five to 105 and Calibre offer a wide choice of unabridged books for all ages and all tastes. One of their guiding principles has always been to supply books in a format that can be played on ordinary household equipment. This means that members can select a player that suits their needs. For example they can listen to audio books on portable equipment (like a purpose built USB player), so that they can take books into the garden, on holiday or on long journeys. Livability Livability is a disability charity that connects people with their communities: they tackle social isolation and the barriers that can cause this in the lives of disabled and vulnerable people. Through a wide range of disability, education, training and community services, Livability promotes inclusion and wellbeing for all. Together, they work to see people take part, contribute and be valued. Livability puts the elements in place that all add up to connected lives and communities. |
The Church of England is committed to diversity as one of its major goals. The Archbishops’ Council which sets the strategic goals for the Church of England includes disability as one of the key areas in which it wants to increase the welcome and participation of disabled people.Archbishop Justin Welby hosted a major conference in July last year exploring how disabled people can participate fully in the life of the Church.
Many disabled people cite the attitudes, environment and barriers to participation as being the most disabling factors in their lives. Yes, they may live with an impairment but it can be the society they live in, or the organisation they work for, that disables them. A person with a mobility impairment may be liberated by having a wheelchair but completely disabled by lack of access to a meeting by the stairs that are its only access. The Church of England wants to be an enabling rather than a disabling church. Increasingly, it is asking the question, how can we enable disabled people to be at the heart of our communities, explore their vocation and realise their gifts? We have to admit that in the past the Church has often made mistakes in this area and overlooked the calling and gifts of disabled people, but we are determined to do better in the future.
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