Those excellent folks at In Control hosted a webinar for their Stay Connected network this morning on Strengthening Disabled People’s User-Led Organisations. They were kind enough to ask me to contribute, and it was a real pleasure to do so. There was a great group of people attending, and some really nice questions that I hope I was able to help with.
There were some key points I wanted to get across during the webinar:
- We have to acknowledge and understand the fact that it’s a tough environment at the moment. Inclusion London’s report about DPULOs in London and Alex’s post about DPULOs being “an endangered species” raise very important points
- But, several current public service systems – be it in social care, health, hate crime, employment – aren’t working as well as they could do. DPULOs to date have not been big parts of those systems, but some tremendous work by DPULOs across the country suggests they can be a part of those systems, and in making those public service systems better
- Commissioners themselves are struggling to find answers. DPULOs can be part of those answers, and can work constructively with commissioners to identify and achieve the possibilities inherent in the difficult environment both parties are facing
- There is a long history of disabled people’s organisations – we need to build on this wider history and its successes, not just those within the relatively narrow confines of social care in the last 5 years.
If you’d like to hear the full webinar, please get in touch with Laura at In Control (perhaps via Twitter – @incontrolorg).
Don’t forget: if you work within a DPULO or know one, let them know about the Strengthening DPULOs Programme – info on the ODI website and on Facebook. We’re also on Twitter via #dpulo.
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