Accentuate

Camilla Brueton

Hi Stevie,

I have added a pdf of the attitudinal graph to Sarah's blog which you should be able to download. Unfortunately I've not succesfully been able to turn it into a word document- but the PDF is much larger than the original image.

Stevie Rice

Thank you Sarah and thank you Kristina for sharing your perspectives. I wasn't at the conference but i'm really pleased to have found a trusted response to it and to know that these key disability messages were raised at the conference, if not entirely answered! I'm struggling to read the text on the image - is there anywhere i can view this larger?Thanks again both.

Kristina Veasey

Great article Sarah! I identify totally with your 'work is not the be all and end all of life' ethos! For most of us work is a way to put shelter over our heads and bread on the table. For others of us it has self-esteem and therapeutic merit. For others of us still, it is an opportunity that is just not there, whether we want it or not. It's not just about barriers in the workplace, but all those wider issues that impact as well. Although education is becoming more inclusive, it is still not an equal learning platform. And what about those of us who were educated long ago and are still wearing the scars? You can't just undo the years of trauma, rejection, humiliation etc that leads to anxiety and lack of confidence - confidence not just in oneself but in the 'system' as a whole. Until we have disabled people developing policies, they will never really be workable. As it stands now, even when disabled people's views are sought, they are often ignored and unworkable policies pushed forward. http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-support-spartacus-report.html We all have different needs, but surely if we can develop a workplace that is flexible, that caters for those with the greatest needs we can make it right for everyone. It's not being 'pink and fluffy', it's using common sense. The people making the rules just don't seem to see what the barriers are, so how on earth do they expect to remove them and get people into work? Unless we make holistic changes to our working practices and policy-making, those of us whose actual impairment prevents us from working will always be made scapegoats and deemed failures. http://www.accentuate-se.org/?location_id=4&item=96 We need to have more cohesive joined-up policy-making, and to reiterate the Accentuate line, it's about working across all the sectors. I am personally excited about the potential, and plans that Accentuate are forming. Perhaps we can lead by example and change things from the inside out?