In July 2021, the ‘Locked Out: Liberating people’s lives and rights in Wales beyond COVID-19’ report was published. As a response, the First Minister agreed to establish a Minister-led Taskforce to take forward the work to address the inequalities highlighted by the report and oversee the implementation of actions.
The Disability Rights Taskforce has agreed on Working Groups to fully explore and set in motion further action that reaches our ambition to build a stronger, fairer Wales.
The working groups will run until 2023 and are designed to bring people and organisations with expertise, lived experience, policy and delivery capability together to concentrate on specific priority areas. Each working group will develop and agree actions to be brought forward to the Taskforce. We are currently recruiting volunteers for the below working groups:
· Embedding and Understanding of the Social Model of Disability (across Wales) - concluded
· Access to Services (including accessible communications and technology) - concluded
· Independent Living: Social Care - concluded
· Independent Living: Health and Wellbeing - ongoing
· Travel - ongoing
· Employment & Income - ongoing
· Children and Young People – due to commence in May 2023
· Affordable and Accessible Housing – due to commence in July 2023
In order to support the policy leads from different departments, we are now seeking individuals from the disabled community with lived experience of the differential impact of ableism and disableism within the working groups listed above.
You will not need to represent any one particular disabled community or group. We welcome you being able to offer experiences and knowledge of the intersectional dynamics of equality impacting on disabled communities.
Each working group is expected to have approximately 20-30 people. Exact number determined closer to the time.
You will be required to do the following:
· Attend occasional Working Group meetings in 2022 and 2023. All meetings will be held remotely.
· Work constructively with designated policy officials and working group members to inform understanding of what changes are needed to improve the unequal impacts on disabled communities
· Understand the Social Model of Disability and support its implementation in the development of Taskforce work.
As a result of this work, you will gain insight into how policy is made, how Government works and an awareness of the political landscape of Wales.
If you wish to volunteer to be a member of any of the working groups listed above, please express your interest to the Disability Rights Taskforce at: DisabilityRightsTaskforce@gov.wales
We want to clarify that this is an unpaid opportunity.
When expressing your interest, please confirm which organisation you are representing, if any. It would also be useful if you could confirm if you need BSL interpreter or Captioner support during these meetings. Arrangements will be made by our team to ensure that you are able to fully contribute to these discussions.