Improving services for people with disabilities
CultureNL subscribes to the Disability Discrimination Act and as such is committed to the importance of ensuring equality of access and opportunity to Council services by disabled people. This should be viewed in the context of NLC’s Equal Opportunities Policy, Service and Budget planning process and Creative Services Service Standards. A Disability Access Policy within Creative Services focuses on improving service delivery and so:-
- Promote social inclusion;
- Deliver responsive and relevant services and opportunities;
- Develop an ongoing process relating to good equality practices.
Creative Services Disability Access Policy recognises the social model of disability as creating barriers, which ‘disable’ many North Lanarkshire residents from fully exercising their rights as citizens. These barriers include:-
- Buildings and facilities that are inaccessible;
- Information that is not given in an accessible format;
- Prejudice, negative attitudes and stereotyping.
Our intentions as a service provider are to:-
- Provide high quality relevant arts opportunities in accessible and appropriate community facilities;
- Maintain an open dialogue with a wide range of community groups and individuals to ensure we provide accessible and appropriate services;
- Provide information on our services in a range of accessible mediums and suitable formats;
- Identify staff training needs in relation to equality issues;
- Apply our Equality Policy in all aspects of our service.