Civic Participation Network 2007-2011

The Civic Participation Network project 2007-2011 aimed to remove barriers to active citizenship for people with communication support needs. 

It was Communication Forum Scotland's first major project and was funded by the Scottish Government.

We have made lots of progress in partnership with government, public and voluntary organisations.  But more action is needed.  We celebrated this on March 10, 2011 at "No More Mr Nice Guy: we just want to be equal".

The work will be continued in various ways. The Inclusive Communication Communication in Scotland project, also funded by Scottish Government, is a another step forward, see http://www.inclusivecommunicationscotland.org.uk 

Case Studies

We have produced 4 case studies into the costs and benefits of adopting inclusive communication:

• Civic Participation Network Reference Group
• Scottish Disability Equality Forum and Lochaber Access Panel
• Inverclyde Council Adult Protection Services
• Young Scot All In Project

You can read the case studies in two ways. Online or by downloading a Word or PDF version for reading or printing.

Project aims 2007-2011

1
To increase the involvement of people with communication disabilities in consultation activities, service development and decision-making.

2
To promote inclusive communication to service providers and decision-makers.

3
To extend communication accessible training for active citizenship.

4
To share ideas and expertise in putting communication support into practice.

Aim 1

To increase the involvement of people with communication disabilities in consultation activities, service development and decision-making.

Audio quote: Clifford

‘We have to be patient when the assumption is made, “Can’t speak... must be deaf” or “Can’t speak... must be stupid”.’

Click here to hear more from Clifford

Audio quote: Lindsay

‘If you just give notes out at a meeting, it’s a nightmare trying to read them and work out what you are supposed to be doing and saying. It would be helpful if there was something sent out to you beforehand.’

Click here to hear more from Lindsay

Audio quote: Thomas

‘Stop using jargonised words in the meeting so people with learning disabilities could understand what they’re saying.‘

Click here to hear more from Thomas

Aim 2

To promote inclusive communication to service providers and decision-makers.

This is based on the 6 Communication Support Principles which form the foundation of Talk for Scotland: a practical toolkit for engaging with people with communication support needs.  

Video story: Connor

The toolkit was developed and launched in May 2008 with the active involvement of people with diverse communication support needs.  An update was completed in December 2009.

Promotion includes presentations and workshops to service providers in the public and voluntary sectors.

Here are a couple of examples which illustrate different ways of reporting on an event.

Conference report (PowerPoint)

Presentation at Scottish Disability Equality Forum's Access Panels conference September 2009. Downloadable version of the graphic facilitation example in PDF format

We have developed an inclusive communication policy for our own activities based on the 6 Principles. 

Communication policy (MS Word)

Communication policy (Adobe PDF)

Aim 3

To extend communication accessible training for active citizenship.

Visit our training pages.

Aim 4

To share ideas and expertise in putting communication support into practice.

B S L summary of the Civic Participation Network information

Direct download of BSL introduction to the Civic Participation Network (mp4 format)