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Good Practice in Service Provision

Good Practice E-Network

Introduction	Government & Service Providers	Education & Training	Employment	Housing	Transport	Technical Aids & Equipment
Personal Assistance	Advocacy	Counselling	Health	Leisure	Community & Social Life	Safety, Harassment & Discrimination

Good Practice Recommendations - Community and Social Life

1. Some form of peer support network/project for LGB disabled people should be investigated. This would enable LGB disabled people to share information and develop their capacity to increase their social circles.
2. The commercial “lesbian and gay scene” should be encouraged to improve its access to disabled people, this includes less obvious barriers such as lighting and noise levels.
3. Community education around equality issues, particularly attitudes such as disablism and racism needs to take place and the LGB commercial scene needs to take some of this agenda on.
4. There needs to be a strengthening of the capacity of the LGB voluntary and community sector to provide services on an equal basis to LGB disabled people. These groups and organisations provide a range of activities and services as there is much variation in the “LGB community”, for example the community needs of lesbian parents are quite different to those of young gay men. Traditionally, many of these groups have been under funded and this has sometimes compromised access for disabled people.
5. There needs to be an LGB-friendly non-commercial venue in Leeds city centre, with good physical access, to enable LGB community organisations to improve their access to disabled people.
6. Access to community activities should include a consideration by groups of the extra costs that disabled people have, e.g. accessible transport, BSL interpretation and personal assistance.
7. The needs to be more information sharing and networking between LGB voluntary and community groups, resources should be allocated for this in the same way that resources for other equality work is allocated by central and local government. This information then needs to be disseminated widely to LGB people.
8. Organisations of or for disabled people need to be more pro-active in promoting LGB equality issues through; staff training, use of equality policies, specific information which makes LGB people welcome and specific activities for LGB disabled people, where requested.