The guide has evolved from four Disability Equality Training workshops. The workshops were commissioned by the Community University of the Valleys Partnership (CUVP) and were held between March and June 2005
Disability Equality Training is a participatory workshop forum, all participants were asked to begin a Personal Action Plan process. This guide is designed to take the process forward.
In addition four Partners have been visited and taken part in discussions about access and developing an equality tool kit for their organisation. The tool kit and learning outcomes are encouraged to be disseminated around the CUVP.
A workshop titled: ‘What is Disability Equality and Access?’ was held during the CUVP conference: ‘Changing Landscapes’. Feedback and evaluations from the workshop have helped in the development of this guide.
The aim of this guide is to focus primarily on the responsibilities of lifelong learning providers towards learners who have sensory impairments. Sensory impairment is traditionally defined as Blindness or Deafness.
What disables people with sensory impairment is the lack of accessible information and a lack of awareness around communication.
Equality of access includes all people, it is not our intention to exclude any impairment. Access to learning materials, however, is the greatest barrier for sensory impairment.
The guide is informed from an equal opportunities perspective; everyone has
a right to learning. It is impossible to put ourselves in other people’s
shoes but this equality guide/tool kit, has been produced to encourage a mind
set which will help us to think from another person’s perspective.