Opinion and Voice

Opinion

“Nothing About Us Without Us!” is one of the most important rallying calls of the disabled people’s movement. We want the voices of disabled people to be heard on the issues that affect them.

Our Voice

Every day we gain experience, information and insight about the lives of disabled people, beginning with the lived experience of our own staff and clients. We also work in partnership with disabled people, their organisations and supporters.

We use the platform we have to reach organisations, policy makers and individuals, to create a more equal society, in which disabled people can play a full and active role. We have a particular interest in removing barriers to employment, and barriers in the workplace.

We are currently helping to shape the devolution process in Greater Manchester. We want to ensure that all decision making contributes towards disabled people’s equality, independence and full inclusion.

We work closely with local and national organisations to remove barriers, and ensure they understand and represent the views of disabled people. We speak out on issues that affect disabled people, in our work and online.

We also do this through our membership of important influencing bodies such as:

• Equality and Human Rights Commission Disability Committee
• National Independent Living Sub Group
• North West Network of Disabled People’s Organisations
• Our Manchester Forum
• Our Manchester Design and Delivery Group
• GM Devolution Voluntary and Community Sector Reference Group
• Manchester ‘Learning Disability Priority Work Stream’
• Central Manchester Foundation Trust Equalities Advisory Group
• Our Manchester Disability Plan Partnership Board, Engagement Group and Employment Workstream

We work closely with the public sector in Greater Manchester, meeting regularly with local councillors, politicians, and health organisations.

This allows us to ensure they understand their local disabled people’s organisations, and represent the views of disabled people.

How can we support your organisation?

From the NHS, to local authorities, transport providers, employers and government departments, many organisations have benefitted from our strategic policy advice on disability issues. Get in touch for more information on how we can help. We also work on short and long term commissioned engagement, equality appraisal and research projects.