Excellence in Diversity Awards

Tag: NDA Nominee

  • 2015 EiDA Nominee – The University of Manchester

    The University of Manchester is committed to creating an environment where diversity is celebrated and everyone is treated fairly. They have a genuine commitment to equality of opportunity for their staff and students, and are proud to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse community they serve. Specialist staff networks, forums, training and events are just some of the ways in which the university keep their community connected and engaged with diversity issues. Top quality evidence showcased a real understanding from the University of the importance of incorporating all aspects of diversity. The University demonstrated incredible promotion of all equality strands and protected characteristics, and presented credible information which highlights the great lengths they are going to, to be fully inclusive. The University is also addressing youth unemployment through their leadership of The Works – an innovative employment and training initiative at the heart of our local communities in Moss Side and Ardwick.

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  • 2015 EiDA Nominee – The Co-operative Group

    Respect is the Co-operative Group’s inclusive lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender network which is made up of a dedicated LGBT Steering Group from across the organisation’s family of businesses. The network provides voluntary support to raise awareness of LGBT community initiatives, local pride events and charities such as the George House Trust and Albert Kennedy Trust. In previous years, the co-operative featured in stonewalls top five employers and was listed as the most gay friendly retailer across the UK – the only retailer to feature in the Top 100 and the first to make it into the Top 10. The network is impressively the largest LGBT network in the UK with over 8,500 ‘Friends of Respect’; Over 1,300 of these are employees. Since the group established 5 years ago, they have achieved an extraordinary amount – not only supporting colleagues internally but supporting over 80 pride events such as Manchester Pride and Sparkle. Respect is also the most followed UK LGBT Network on twitter with over 9,000 followers.

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  • Working as an Intern for I Am Me

    Iam Me

    Hi, I’m Megan, and I’m the project intern for I Am Me Scotland!

    I Am Me Scotland is a Renfrewshire community group founded to tackle and raise awareness of disability hate crime. Disability hate crimes are among the most underreported hate crimes, with 97% suspected of going unreported.

    The project has two key initiatives; I Am Me, and Keep Safe.
    Keep Safe

    We have worked in partnership with Police Scotland to develop the Keep Safe initiative. Keep Safe is the first of its kind in Scotland, and aims to support and encourage disabled, vulnerable and older people to keep safe and enjoy activities and day to day life without fear of abuse, intimidation and harassment. The initiative works with a network of local shops and businesses to create safe places for disabled, vulnerable or older people to go if they need help, if they are lost, scared or if they are the victim of crime. Disabled, vulnerable, or older people are offered a Keep Safe Card which they can carry that includes information about themselves and people who can be contacted in an emergency.

    There are currently 36,000 people registered as disabled or with a long term illness in Renfrewshire alone (1 million across Scotland). We currently have 43 Keep Safe premises throughout the Renfrewshire area, with other local authorities beginning to roll the initiative our in their areas across Scotland. Keep Safe premises are widely recognised as friendly and safe places to be, with sensitive and helpful staff.

    My job when working on Keep Safe is to approach businesses to become Keep Safe premises, which not only benefits the local community, but enables the participating business to tap into the £80bn ‘purple pound’. I also liaise with existing Keep Safe premises to monitor any incidents, and to provide any further information or training on Keep Safe. In addition to increasing the network of businesses, I also work with disability groups, health centres, and GP surgeries, to distribute Keep Safe cards, and I assist Police Scotland to deliver awareness raising sessions on disability hate crime and Keep Safe.

    Prior to the I Am Me project, there was only 1 reported disability hate crime in Renfrewshire (see table), but since the project commenced, this number has risen to 6 reported disability hate crimes in 2013/14. While this number is still relatively small, it is a huge increase in one of the most underreported hate crimes in Scotland. The figures for reported disability hate crimes are expected to be on the same level as that of racial hate crimes, however, only 138 disability hate crimes were reported to the Police in 2012/13, in comparison to the 4012 racial hate crimes reported in the same year. Since the I Am Me project began, reported disability hate crimes for Scotland have increased to 154 in 2013/14. This means that in the increase from 138 to 154, 6 of those came from Renfrewshire; meaning that hopefully our initiative is working. We view the increase in reported disability hate crimes as a positive thing, as it shows that more people at taking a stand, and not simply accepting it as a way of life.

     

    2012/13
    (before I Am Me project)

    2013/14
    (after I Am Me project)
    Reported Disability Hate Crimes in Renfrewshire 1 6
    Reported Disability Hate Crimes in Scotland (according to COPFS) 138 154
    Reported Racial Hate Crimes in Scotland (according to COPFS) 4012 4148

     

    I Am Me

    In addition to working with Police Scotland, we have worked in partnership with PACE Theatre Company to develop two hard hitting and awareness raising plays; one that is delivered to primary schools, and the other to high schools, training groups, the police, councils, and disability groups. ‘I Am Me’ is the title of both plays, and each follows the story of a young man with a disability. The more mature play is followed by a talk from Police Scotland on the repercussions of committing disability hate crimes, and so far has been extremely positively received with 97.6% of high school pupils surveyed in 2013 stating that the play has been successful in raising awareness of disability hate crime. The performances have received many plaudits and were booked to tour across Scotland in 2014. The primary school play is a softer version, developed specifically for children of school age p5-7, with an engaging workshop afterwards to raise awareness of the effects of disability bullying.

    We are currently touring the primary school play again this year and it has been offered to all 49 primary schools in Renfrewshire; with the high school tour to begin again in March. So far the surveys we have received back from the primary school pupils have been really engaging and positive in terms of changing attitudes and raising awareness of disability bullying, with the majority of pupils saying that the play has changed their opinion on disabilities.

    Next stages

    The community group began in 2013, and are currently working on a DVD and training pack to use in any school or group across Scotland. Both the DVD and the pack have been endorsed by the Chief Constable and the Lord Advocate.

    After this, the community group will be seeking funding to develop a Keep Safe app, meaning service users could use the app as a Keep Safe card, and to find safer routes and nearby Keep Safe premises. This would be greatly beneficial to our service users to enable them to live a life free of harassment, but also to Keep Safe premises as it would mean they were easily identified as friendly environments within the community with caring and helpful staff.

    My Experience

    I’ve only been here 4 weeks but so far I love it, as disability hate is a subject quite close to my heart. Disabilities saturate my family, with my Dad recently being recognized as disabled after a bad leg break over a year ago resulted in him being unable to walk unaided indefinitely – facing a possible amputation. But my grandparents are my world, and all of them happen to be disabled too. It used to anger me when I thought that people were taking advantage of them and their nice nature, or when people laughed at them (and by association, me); but this role has enabled me to channel my anger and passion towards a positive outcome. The I Am Me play addresses young people in schools at a crucial age, as the average disability hate crime offender was found to be just 21 years old in a report by EHRC – Hidden in Plain Sight in September of 2011. School children can be relentlessly cruel, usually unaware of or ignorant to the effects of their actions. I remember being 14 years old, and being made to feel worthless in my local shopping centre while out with my Gran one Saturday. I noticed some people from my school, who quickly pointed, laughed, and shouted at us, simply because my wee Gran had previously had a stroke which left her sometimes unable to control her facial expressions and needing a wheelchair to get about. I wanted to tell them that what they were saying and how they were acting was ridiculously unacceptable. I wish the I Am Me play had been about then! Then they would know and I would know, that it wasn’t acceptable or just something to ignore and get on with. Maybe it wouldn’t have even happened at all. I was livid and humiliated, but there was nothing I could do, and there was no where I could take my Gran for assistance. That’s also why I think Keep Safe is such a great idea; if the initiative had been about 9 years ago we could’ve went into a participating shop for assistance, and if that shopping centre had been a part of Keep Safe I would’ve felt more confident to approach security staff to alert them of what was going on. I would’ve known that I would have been taken seriously, and I would’ve felt confident enough to approach someone for help because I would’ve known that the shopping centre staff were in unity against such behaviour. But while this is something that happened 9 years ago, there’s still something I can do about it now. Keep Safe and I Am Me are challenging and changing attitudes towards disabilities, and I couldn’t be more pleased to be a part of it!

    Get in contact!

    If you’d like more information about I Am Me or Keep Safe, please contact me directly at megan.milligan@renfrewshire.gov.uk, or the group on iammeproject@yahoo.co.uk. You can also visit us on:

    www.iammescotland.co.uk

    www.facebook.com/iammeproject

    www.twitter.com/iammescotland

  • Reclaiming our place in rural areas of the country

    I grew up in a small rural village. From a very early age, I knew I was different. Being different left me feeling like I had no place in my hometown of Solihull, West Midlands and at 16 I moved 20 miles down the road, closer to the centre of Birmingham. Three years later, I came out as gay.

    I spent the following 11 years moving from city to city, believing that I was a ‘city boy’ at heart. I had no intention of moving back to a rural environment as I felt I did not belong there. In 2010, I was at a crossroads in my life and with absolutely no money, my twin brother and I, moved back to the Midlands. It was there, that together we founded Proud2Be Project.

    In 2011, we both relocated to a rural village in Devon and I realised how much our experience of growing up gay in our hometown, had inspired Proud2Be. For the first year living and working in Devon, I felt isolated and alone. There were several times when I was close to packing my bags and moving back to Brighton, where I had lived happily for several years. I didn’t feel like there was a place for me here.

    I stuck with it and through Proud2Be, had the privilege of meeting many lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or trans+ (LGBT+) people, who like us, faced similar battles, living in a predominantly rural area.

    Let me be clear, I do not wish to discount the experiences of LGBT+ people living in urban areas. Life in a city can be a lonely existence and prejudice and discrimination can be found and experienced in even the most ‘accepting’ of places.

    Right now, in rural areas of the country, LGBT+ people face prejudice and discrimination, the effects of which are made worse by the lack of visibility, social opportunities and support networks.

    It could be argued that these could be accessed by travelling into the city, but for some, this is made problematic by financial restraints, inaccessible venues, fear of crowds etc. Some simply do not wish to travel to the city.

    In January 2010 Equality South West launched a survey to investigate the key issues facing LGBT+ people in the South West of England. It found that one effect of living in a sparsely populated area is that in general there are too few ‘out’ LGBT+ people within close enough proximity to each other to form viable local social and support networks, or to influence or challenge local policy-makers and service providers to address LGBT+ issues.

    Inevitably all this can have a negative impact on whether or not we as LGBT+ people, choose to come out to our family, friends, neighbours and co-workers.

    For this reason, many who were born in rural areas are left feeling like there is no option but to leave and move to a city. For some, the idea of moving into a rural town and being ‘out and proud’ doesn’t even feel like an option.

    This year, we held the first pride procession in Totnes. Being a rural pride event, we were unsure how many people to expect, particularly walking through the town behind a 7ft willow butterfly! I was not only thrilled to be joined by so many other LGBT+ people but many from the wider community, who showed their support by waving flags from the pavement, volunteering as marshalls and walking with us in the procession.

    As I made my way up the main high street, holding the Proud2Be banner, chanting with the crowd “WE ARE HERE”, I felt that after many years of running away, I had finally reclaimed my place in a rural town that I now call home.

    Written by Mat Price

  • Educate OUT Prejudice

    Sue Sanders copyWe care about diversity and, I assume, equality. That’s why we are on this site is it not?

    With an election looming we need to be on our toes. We need to be ready to challenge the lies and stereotypes that will unfortunately start to flow as the parties sink to the lowest common denominator.

    It is useful to see that in areas like London, where a great many locally run state schools have embraced and celebrated diversity, there is little support for parties that seek to demonise immigrants. Though London can be said to be multi-cultural, employment is also high and schools constantly outperform their counterparts in other areas. Immigrants are not a problem, yet the media and the mainstream political parties keep them at the front of the agenda.

    In the Essex seaside town of Clacton, however, the immigrant population is less than half the national average – yet wages are 20% below the national average, while the proportion of people dependent on benefits is higher.

    In Kent – and Buckinghamshire – grammar schools and secondary moderns still exist and children are selected at 11. Kent’s local authority held on to section 28 for some years after it was repealed. It is there that we see prejudice and stereotypes abound and a growing support for political parties that want to blame immigrants for local joblessness. It was telling that recently a TV news programme asked residents of Ramsgate what percentage of immigrants were resident in the area and what the problems were. One woman was adamant that it was in the 80’s; whereas it is between 8 and 9%. One may wonder what has fed this erroneous estimate. 

    My guess is ignorance of the facts and a perpetual diet of misinformation. Because people seek scapegoats; they want to blame someone for their misfortunes – or perceived misfortunes – and political parties have down the centuries used ethnicity, sexual orientation religion, gender and/or disability.

    The 2014 winter floods were blamed on lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people; disabled people claim too much benefit and are not ‘worth’ the minimum wage; it was not that long ago that equal pay for equal work was disputed and the reality is we still do not have it!

    So we see politicians shifting the blame, making up stories such as one about ‘tourist benefit scroungers’ which they were unable to prove when challenged. They focus on the people who have less power and squeeze them; so we see disabled people being deprived of their benefits by inappropriate tests that have resulted in many deaths.

    ”    By Nick Sommerlad on April 4, 2012 11:00 PM in Health

    32 die a week after failing test for new incapacity benefit

    More than a thousand ­sickness benefit claimants died last year after being told to get a job, we can reveal.

    We’ve highlighted worries about the controversial medical tests for people claiming Employment Support Allowance which are being used to slash the country’s welfare bill.

    The Government has boasted that more than half of new ­claimants are found “fit to work” – failing to mention that over 300,000 have appealed the decision and almost 40% have won.”

    So we have seen the present Government’s policies have already cost lives. The policies being talked about: reducing the power of the Public Duty of the Equality Act; scrapping the Humans Rights Act and reducing  immigration, which would mean leaving the EU and thereby the Human Rights Court as well.

    The Stephen Lawrence Report of 1999 raised awareness of institutional prejudice and instigated much needed work in the criminal justice system, which meant that hate crime was taken more seriously. However, under the concept of ‘austerity’ we see the structures, training and culture that supported this work massively diluted.

    We see the appalling result in an atrocious homophobic attack and totally inadequate response from both the CJS and NHS here http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/homophobia-in-microcosm-how-a-savage-gang-attack-tore-one-mans-whole-life-apart-9780443.html

    We know what will happen if we do nothing.

    Gordon Allport produced a really useful diagram explaining what happens if we do nothing (see below). It starts by enabling people to see the danger of using banter and inappropriate labels, which all too often people ignore or trivialise. This perpetual labelling feeds a culture of negativity and prejudice which quickly builds to social withdrawal from the target of that abuse. Once that is done the target is less known, so they can be demonised and seen as less human. This encourages discrimination, which further feeds the targeted group’s lack of worth in the perpetrators’ eyes and it is even seen as acceptable to attack members of the group physically. Dealing with that level of abuse often renders the target unable to go on; so they suicide or the dominant group feels justified or confident or enough to kill them.

    It is our job as citizens to dispel the lies, challenge the prejudice, and educate OUT prejudice.

    Sue Sanders chair LGBT History Month www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk

    Allport’s Scale

    Extermination

    Genocide 

    Murder

    Suicide

    Resignation

    Physical Attack

    Assault

    Rape

    Criminal damage

    Physical bullying

    Graffiti

    Discrimination

    In employment, education, 

    access to housing, health 

    care, services, goods etc.

    Avoidance

    Ignoring, excluding, invisilbilising, physical

    withdrawal, not patronising businesses etc.

    Anti-locution

    Bad-mouthing, spiteful gossiping, creating

    negative myths about people, anti-jokes, verbal

    abuse, stereotyping