Flintshire Disability Forum

March 1999 Meeting

The third meeting of Flintshire Disability Forum was held on Tuesday 30th March 1999 at Flint Pavilion Leisure Centre. This page has photos, the programme and meeting report.

Above: Disability Forum in session.

Below: Lunch after the Disability Forum.  

Programme:

10:00        Coffee and Registration
10:30        Welcome: Alex Warr, Disability Association
10:50        Break/Workshops
11:00        Member Workshops
11:30        Break
11:45        Resume Workshops
12:15        Break
12:20        Feedback Session
12:55        Summary: Alex Warr, Disability Association
1:00        Close Followed by Buffet Lunch


Workshops:

11:00-11:30am & 11:45am-12:15pm

Aims and Objectives of the Forum/Forums Name

In the November consultation meeting upon establishing a disability forum, members discussed what they would like the forum to do and how this could be achieved.

Members are now asked to consider and discuss the Forums formal Aims and Objectives, which would be included in the forums constitution. In addition, members are asked to consider the forums name - is the current name appropriate? Do members have any suggestions?

Below are the Denbighshire Disability Forums aims and objectives, which may help the discussions.

Denbighshire Disability Forums aims and objectives adapted for Flintshire

The Charity's objects ("the objects") are:

a)    the relief of people with disabilities living in Flintshire in particular by the provision of information in accessible formats and an advice service to assist them in their further integration in society; and

b)    to educate the public by raising awareness in all matters relating to people with disabilities.

In furtherance of this objective, the charity is established:

(a)    To promote fuller co-operation between the various voluntary, statutory, professional and commercial organisations concerned with the welfare of disabled people in Flintshire.

b)    To provide a means of consultation among voluntary organisations, professional associations, health and local authorities and Government Departments concerned with the welfare of disabled people they represent

(c)    To focus the attention on the needs of, and the services available to, disabled people.

(d)    To serve as a source of channelling information for those interested in the welfare of disabled people.

(e)    To present a united front so that, from a position of strength, arguments can be advanced for securing better services for disabled people.

(f)    To provide a source of contact for local authorities and others wishing to communicate with, or obtain the views of, disabled people.

And for the above purposes to:

(i)    Assist members in obtaining advice and any specialist and other services that may be available from Government Departments, local authorities and other voluntary and statutory sources.

(ii)    Form a centre of reference for member organisations and to facilitate the interchange of information and ideas between members working in the interest of disabled people and desiring to co-operate with the Association in this respect.

(iii)    Co-operate with other organisations and
statutory bodies working in the interest of disabled people.

(iv)    Stimulate public interest in the needs of disabled people.

(v)    Take any other action which may be deemed necessary or desirable for the promotion of the welfare of disabled people.

Meeting Report

10:30am Welcome

Alex Warr, Community Development Worker of the Disability Association/ Cymdeithas Anabledd introduced herself and welcomed delegates to the meeting.

Alex informed members that she had received good news recently. Firstly, following an application for funding, the Flintshire County Council Social Services Committee had agreed to award £4,000 to the Forum for the next financial year. This funding would help pay for administration costs, training, venue costs, member support costs (e.g. signers, guiders) and member travel expenses. This funding would be available once the Forum had nominated its committee and opened a bank account. Alex informed members that she would be also seeking further funding from the Council’s Chief Executive Department for further support.

Alex also announced that Flintshire County Council had informed her that the development of a PSI (Physical Disability and Sensory Impairment) Strategy (the development of which Cllr. Tom Middlehurst had announced at the November Forum meeting) would be going forward and that two representatives of the forum would be invited to attend a future strategy meeting. Alex explained that the strategy would ensure that the authority was meeting its duties under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and also develop good practice. Members greeted this invitation and also acknowledged the importance of receiving funding for the Forum.

Alex gave a summary of the meeting’s programme. She informed members that workshops were being held to discuss to issues; the forum’s aims and objectives and the forum’s name. She stated that she had included the aims and objectives of the Denbighshire Disability Forum within the meeting programme, to aid discussion. She told members that the DDF had recently received charitable registration and therefore, it would be advisable if the forum wanted to adopt similar aims, that they did not alter the DDF aims and objectives too greatly, because she was aware that these aims were acceptable to the Charity Commission. She noted that the language contained within the aims was not very positive, but unfortunately it was what the Commission required. As she expected the Forum to apply for charity registration once funding had been received, she believed it would be sensible to adopt a constitution which was not only approved by the members, but would also be acceptable to the Commission from the outset.

Following discussion at the Forum’s Steering Group meeting, she believed it was important for members to discuss the Forum’s name. She explained that this was a name which the Association and the steering group had given to the forum, yet it was important that members accepted the current name. It would be useful to have ideas from members regarding the name or to confirm that members were satisfied with the choice of name.

11:00am Member Workshops:

Members divided into four workshops facilitated by Alex Warr, Ian Jones, Wendy Jones and Pauline Dutton/David Jones which were held over two half hour sessions. Members were therefore asked to discuss the forum’s aims and objectives and the forum’s name.

12:20pm Feedback Session

Alex Warr, Ian Jones, Wendy Jones and David Jones reported back on the issues raised from their workshops.

The feedback demonstrated that there was consensus on a number of points:

The Forum’s Aims and Objectives:

All workshops commented that they did not support the tone of the aims but accepted that the language used would be acceptable to the Charity Commission. Members agreed though that it was important to make representations to the Commission regarding the need to use updated references to disability and community development work.

A number of observations and requests for word-changes were made:

Members questioned the usage of the term 'the relief of people with disabilities. Alex explained that this was a term which was required under charity law, for the forum to be recognised as a charitable organisation. The word 'relief' was a term which the Commission preferred and was a term which the Denbighshire Disability Forum had been required to include in their constitution before charity registration was granted.

Members felt that 'people with disabilities' should be replaced with 'people with physical and/or sensory impairments' Members also asked whether the word 'welfare', which appeared several times in the aims could be replaced by 'well-being'. Alex stated that she would enquire with the Commission. Members agreed that it was important to make reference to the Welsh Assembly within the aims.

Other specific changes to the aims included (words which are Struckthrough were deleted; words in Bold were added).

b) ‘to educate the wider public’ and to add the term training

In furtherance of this objective, the charity is established:

(d) To serve as a source of channelling dispensing information for those interested in the welfare of disabled people.

(e) To present a united front so that, from a position of strength, arguments opinions can be advanced for securing better services for disabled people.

(f) To provide a source of contact for local authorities statutory agencies and others wishing to communicate with, or obtain the views of, disabled people.

And for the above purposes to:

(i) Assist members in obtaining advice and any specialist and other services that may be available from Government Departments, local authorities and other voluntary and statutory sources and the public and private sector.

(ii) Form a centre of reference for members and to facilitate the interchange exchange of information and ideas between members working in the interest of disabled people and desiring to co-operate with the Association in this respect.

(iv) Stimulate Encourage public interest in the needs of disabled people.

The Forum’s Name:

Workshop no.1 were happy with the current name, but suggested that the sub-heading ‘for people with physical and/or sensory impairments’ be removed. Workshop no.2 made a number of suggestions: ‘Flintshire Disability Forum’; ‘Flintshire Disability Forum to enable people with physical and/or sensory impairments; ‘Flintshire PSI Enablement Forum’. Members also agreed that it would be useful to include the British Sign Language symbols for the Forum’s name on any letterhead, information leaflets etc. Workshop no.3 were happy with the current name. Workshop no.4 discussed Flintshire Forum for people with physical and/or sensory impairments; PSI Association, but realised both names may be confusing or too similar to other organisations. They then discussed the possibility of adopting one short, strong name for the Forum.

However, members agreed to discuss the forum’s name further at the next meeting. Workshop no.3 had also discussed possible ideas for the next meeting. These included a presentation on the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and presentations from local disability-related voluntary groups on the services which they provided.

12:50pm Summary: Alex Warr - Disability Association

Alex thanked all the workshop facilitators and scribes for their contribution to the meeting.

She asked members whether they wanted a presentation on the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 at the next meeting; members agreed that this would be useful. Members also agreed that workshops would be useful again, to continue discussing the membership status of disability-related groups and carers.

A new member enquired why the Forum’s membership included people with physical and/or sensory impairments only. Alex informed the member that at the previous meeting, she had explained that the forum had been created for people with physical and/or sensory impairments, because a forum for people with learning disabilities in Flintshire already existed. She explained that she had not wanted to duplicate the work of this Forum and also that people with physical and/or sensory impairments in Flintshire and identified the need for a forum.

Tricia Bochanski, Chair of the Flintshire Forum for Learning Disabilities, believed that it was essential that the Forum’s name did accurately reflect the membership, to prevent confusion with the Forum for people with learning disabilities. Alex and other members agreed that it was important for both forums to work closely together and jointly refer enquiries to the relevant forum, which would help reduce confusion regarding each forum’s role. It was noted that any blurring of each forum’s identity could also harm future funding.

Alex Warr thanked everyone for attending the meeting and she hoped that many of the delegates would be able to attend the next date, which members agreed as the 27th April, 10:30am - 1:00pm at Flint Pavilion.

Flintshire Disability Forum information, reports and photos can also be found in the bi-monthly free newsletter DistrAction, available from Flintshire Disability Action on 01352 751559 and on the Internet at: http://www.fda.dial.pipex.com/flintshi.htm

Webkeeper: David N Jones    Page Last Updated: 09/11/2005