4.1 Equal Opportunities & Diversity

Equal Opportunites

A key principle of equal opportunites is the need to remove barriers to participation. There are a number of measures that can be built into approaches to community engagement to make them more accessible. These include accessible information and language, accessible venues, outreach activity and practical support such as childcare or travelling expenses.

It is often difficult to engage with individuals and communities who may not be confident orused to participating in events such as public meetings and community conferences. Consideration must be given to meeting with people in their own familiar surroundings. For example older people may be consulted through visits to lunch clubs, elderly forums or visits to sheltered housing schemes as well as ensuring that any other arrangements for consultation are open to them.  Equal Opportunities, as the term suggests, it is about ensuring that everyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality, age, disability, etc, is offered equal opportunities to achieve the same end.

Diversity

Diversity is broader than equal opportunities and is usually organisation focused. It recognises and values individual differences in attitudes, values and experience in the workplace. It positively values the ways in which people differ, and seeks to maximise their potential in terms of their own professional development and the benefits to the organisation. An organisation that is truly committed to valuing and managing diversity will treat each individual with dignity and respect. It will not make assumptions and will be open minded if asked to consider alternative ways of doing things such as allowing flexible work patterns.

One way in which organisations can ensure that they are adhering to the legal requirements in relation to equalities is to have policies and procedures that demonstrate their commitment to actively promoting equality. As a minimum, policies should cover sex, race, disability, religion, sexual orientation and age.

All trustees need to have a sense of owning the policy and need to be aware of their responsibilities to abide by the policy and to actively promote it through their work. At the stage of policy development or review there needs to be a transparent process that engages the variety of interest groups within the organisation. The policy needs to be given a high profile and a structure for accountability should be established.

The policy may just be a statement but procedures must incorporate a system that helps promote equal opportunities within disability and is fair and easily monitored.