‘We believe in partnerships built on shared goals, honesty, transparency, clear communication and strong relationships’
Collaboration and partnership-working is central to the work of Inclusion Gloucestershire. CEO Vicci Livingstone-Thompson explains more…
Inclusion Gloucestershire is a countywide charity, run by disabled people for disabled people. We deliver a range of projects aimed at empowering people, providing opportunities, advocating for rights and removing barriers in society.
Yet we can only do this through partnerships, both within the VCS and across sectors, with us bringing expertise around lived experience and disability inclusion whilst partners bring varied other expertise, networks and links to communities. We believe in partnerships built on shared goals, honesty, transparency, clear communication and strong relationships. You can find out more about our offer here.
Some of our projects that represent and rely on great partnership working are centred around two key areas: research and advocacy.
Research
Our research helps us understand how disabled people experience barriers to inclusion. What we learn shapes our organisational strategy and how we work to address those barriers.
When Gloucestershire VCS organisations support and promote our research, we can reach a wider range of people, helping to ensure our findings better reflect the local disabled population and enabling us to respond more effectively to disabled people’s needs.
This summer we are running our biennial survey of disabled people, and we would welcome hearing from any organisations willing to help promote it and encourage participation.
We are also working with Barnwood Trust to collate a response to the Timms Review on Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and we are part of Gloucestershire’s Research Engagement Network. On 30 April, The Timms Review launched ‘a wider programme of evidence-gathering and public engagement, giving disabled people, Disabled People’s Organisations, carers, practitioners, clinicians, researchers and other experts more ways to share evidence and experience’.
We are often on the lookout for partners who we can collaborate with on research so if you would like to be involved, please email research@inclusion-glos.org.
Advocacy
Partnership is central to our advocacy work. Through co‑produced drama and other creative courses, we support people to build self‑advocacy skills and create issue‑based plays, films and podcasts shaped by the lived experiences of our members.
Working with residential homes, day centres, community hubs and other local organisations helps us to reach more people across the county and to co-produce courses relevant for each group. We currently have some spaces available in our open-access courses in Gloucester and Stroud.
If you are interested in joining one of our courses, partnering us to deliver a new course in your setting, or would just like to find out more, then please contact: drama@inclusion-glos.org.
You can also watch our video to find out what to expect on our Dramatic Change drama courses.
Another part of our advocacy offer are Speak Up groups, often with partners who bring specialist knowledge, with the aim of empowering disabled people to have a say on topics that matter, such as housing, employment or benefits. These groups are designed to ensure that the different voices are heard and acted upon.
Get involved
If you are interested in working with us as a partner on a new or existing project, referring people to us or just finding out what’s possible, we’d love to hear from you! Please get in touch with us at info@inclusion-glos.org