NHSScotland and the Disability
Discrimination Act 1995
Communication
Communication is something we all do every day, whether we
do it well or badly and there is a tendency for us to take
it for granted. However, we must be mindful of the needs of
people who are sight or hearing impaired, or who have learning
difficulties and make every effort to communicate in ways
that don't exclude or place them at any disadvantage but treat
everyone as equal.
Projects:
NHS Lothian recently pioneered a translation service
by video link for Edinburgh's Cantonese community. The pilot
project, thought to be the first of its kind in the UK, is
designed to allow interpreters to offer their services to
more people by cutting down their travelling time to individual
appointments. Press
release
The Better Health Through Better Communication
project was a pilot undertaken within NHS Lothian during 2001-02
aimed at improving access to primary care services for those
with communication difficulties. Project
Executive Summary
Deaf Watch is a Greater Glasgow NHS
Board pilot project undertaken during 2002 to investigate
possible solutions to communicating with the deaf community
during a major incident or other emergency situation. Although
the project was specific to emergency planning within the
Greater Glasgow Health Board area, it has been recognised
that the issue will relate to and the methodology be transferable
to other organisations and services involved in issuing public
information with the potential to do so at a national level.
The trial was evaluated by Market Research UK. Project
Summary •
Market Research Final Report • Powerpoint
Presentation of the project(NB: if you do not
have PowerPoint installed you can download a stand-alone viewer
here)
Bonnington
Symbol System - website hosted by the City of Edinburgh
Council Social Work Department containing information on the
system used in the Better Health Through Communication pilot
project.
Health
for Asylum Seekers and Refugees Portal (HARP) - a
website for health professionals and volunteers working with
asylum seekers and refugees. To access disability support
information and advice, please enter "disability"
within the HARP homepage search facility.
User-friendly websites for all - Key guidance on how to develop a website which is user-friendly for disabled people has been launched following an investigation by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) which revealed 81 per cent of British websites are inaccessible to disabled people, the guidance document, Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 78, was developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and sponsored by the DRC.
Digital
Media Access Group - consultancy in accessible and
useable design and custom accessibility reports of your website.
The Digital Media Access Group is based at the Faculty of
Applied Computing, University of Dundee.
RNIB
Web Access Centre - aims to provide everyone involved
in the design and build of websites with the tools and resources
needed to plan, build and test accessible websites.
UK
Resources for Web Accessibility and the Law - Provides
a comprehensive list of resources and other material for those
interested in the legal aspects of Web Accessibility in the
UK.
Please
note that the Scottish Executive Health Department is not
responsible for external sites and cannot guarantee the accuracy
or currency of any of the material you may find there. The
existence of an external link is not an endorsement by the
Scottish Executive Health Department of any external company,
its services or products.
