Greater Manchester Coalition for Disabled People -Personalisation and Benefit Changes meeting

Interesting open discussion meeting on Personalisation various speakers from relevant areas including activist groups against Benefits Cuts and Trafford Independent Living Centre very interesting meeting had by all. I am not affected by personalisation at present but I take an interest in all Equality and Diversity issues even if they don't directly affect myself I like to be informed so I can assist others.

Welfare Reform Event at Ashton Town Hall - 25th October 2011- Tameside Private Tenants Group

Attended the above event a volume of people there with queries regarding the new Housing Benefit changes
this involves reductions in rent which could render some people homeless if they cannot afford to support extra rent for more information on this you need to go to CAB or Shelter or your local Welfare rights Unit.

I was attending with a member of Shelter as I am in the process of setting up a Private Tenants Group in the Tameside area and I was collecting contact information from interested parties bad landlords are abound in the Tameside area! but with all due respect I learnt from this event that some private tenants do have good landlords too!

This group hopes to address issues and queries that private tenants have to deal with through and with thier landlords such as Rent, Deposits and eviction issues to name a few.

The first meeting of the Steering group for the Tameside Private Tenants Group will be hopefully be in 2012 as some more publicity is required but anybody interested can contact me anytime on this blog!

Advocacy Course held at Breakthrough UK in Ardwick - 24th October 2011

Attended a very interesting and informative course on advocacy today, its amazing how little I thought was involved in advocay until I attended this course there are several types of advocacy.

Voice Event at Dukinfield Town Hall

Very interesting and informative event where all the T3SC networks meet and share information and discuss future projects it was this meeting where I learnt that the Tameside Volunteer Centre in Ashton and Tameside Third Sector Coalition are joining forces shortly under a new name.

Salt Bin/Gritting Saga - Tameside MBC

This is something that all people with disabilities and impairment's should be aware of in the coming winter months when the snow and ice arrives!

Last year when the snow arrived I requested a gritter from Tameside MBC to salt my road obviously only living on a small road I was not at the top of their priority list which is reasonable main roads first. Due to my disability and weak bones I cannot afford to go out during snow and icy conditions alone in case I have a fall
so I have to get a taxi but without the road being gritted taxis will refuse to come down my street because of the safety aspect so if my road is not gritted I become house ridden and starve if i don't have a store of food but being on benefits you can imagine that can be costly.

I asked the Council in October whether I could have my own grit bin for my road as someone had suggested this as another option the council after much chase and breakdown in communication refused because I don't meet the criteria for a grit bin! The criteria has something daft about living in a isolated area and above sea
level from what I can ascertain they weren't  too clear so as i m fuming I have referred this to my local councillor for him to kindly look into for me- personally i am disgusted and require a proper explanation about this situation at least! I await a response and when I receive a reply I will post it watch This space!

I would be curious to know what other people's experiences are with their local Councils with this scenario?.

Equality and Diversity Centre - Ashton under Lyne

Since my last post I have now been accepted as an ordinairy member of the Equality and Diversity in Ashton under Lyne this centre provide legal advice on Equality and Diversity Issues and an important service for the People of Tameside in all aspects regarding these tyupe of issues. I am hoping to hear from the Centre very soon as they are my nominated charity for the proceeds of my next charity venture watch this space for more news on Uniique Driven, Determined's new ventture!

Borough to license all private landlords | News | Inside Housing

Borough to license all private landlords News Inside Housing

Tameside Hospital Disability Working Group

I attended the above meeting today which includes various members from different agencies within the community that represent individuals weith disabilities or impairment as patient representatives, discussed the agenda items, the interesting part about today;s meeting was the launch and distribution of the The New Tameside Hospital Patient and Carers Handbook - essentialy a user guide to for patients and carers who are admitted to hospital covering all the necessary information they will require to make their admittance infornmed such as diets available on hospital menus, policies. how to deal with valuables during your stay, to name a few -interesting reading and very useful!

I have some copies available if anyone would like to obtain one but they are also available directly from Tameside Hospital Foundation Trust should a quantitiy of copies of the handbook be required. .I also believe that the  handbook is available in alternative formats on request from Gary Birkkenhead at Tameside Hospital telephone number is 0161 922 6000 Extension 5332.

People First Safety Big Meeting

Today I visited the New Chapel on Claire Street in Denton for an event called the Big Safety Meeting which had been organised by Tameside People First, People First (Tameside) for those of you not aware is a organisation for people with learning disabilties who assist with all aspects of their lives - i.e. daily activites,advocacy, unemployment issues and social events to name a few a vital sertvice to individuals with learning disabilities in Tameside.

The Big Safety Meeting was about different aspects of how to keep safe as an invidual in the community, various organisations and agencies attended GM Fire Services, GM Police, Tameside MBC, Trading Standards, Breakthrough UK, Tameside Council Comminity Response Service and North West Training and Development Team amongst others.


Talks took place from some of the agencies involved on different aspects of safety and personal security plus updates on People First, Hate Crime Initiative and its associated publications which was really interesting and informative.


There was a short role play by members of People First showing how an vulnerable individual can be assisted and kept safe by everyday agencies and that an indivdual is able to report a Hate Crime to a friend, Carer, Nurse or any other agency that is a Third Party Reporting Centre.

List of Reporting Centres

Guest Speaker at the event was Tetraplegic actor Andy Walker who had recently appeared in Emmerdale. As a disabled person in a wheelchair who had had a accident which paralyised him, he discussed with the meeting how his experience as a disabled actor how he felt about being disabled and although how unfortunate the accident was becoming disabled and meeting people within the community who are disabled had enhanced his life and how he kept safe.


The meeting also had a talk from Tameside Council- a Trading Standards Officer  and how they operate a scheme called 'Buy with Confidence'which stamps out any Rogue Traders which attempt to operate within the community. This service provides a list of approved traders which have been vetted and CRB checked by Trading Standards to enable citizens within the Tameside Borough to have peace of mind regarding jobs they need carrying out by traders D.I.Y, electrical repairs and Brickwork faults etc. this applies more particularly to vulnerable peoplein the community i.e. - people with learning difficulties who require these tasks completing.


The final talk was from a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission who explained all about  legistation affecting Protected Characteristic groups such as people with disabilities and the speaker signposted people in the meeting to a recent report carried by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in respect to an enquiry on harrasment of disabled people called 'Hidden in plain sight'.


After the discussions had finished there was time for people who had attended the meeting to visit stalls relating to safety and various agencies involved and provide there own feedback on the day.


'The Big Safety Meeting' is a part of a collection of meetings that include Safety Meetings and Hate Crime Focus meetings that I hope to become part of in the future and are vital to the community in enforcing the message about Hate Crime and methods to stop it and how and where to encourage Hate Crime Reporting.


Everyone was thanked for their attendance and contributions by People First Members at the end of the meeting.

The whole day was a huge success and was very useful and informative to all who attended in hope that thr message taken away was to erradicate Hate Crime and encourage individual reporting and encourage others to take steps in assisting others to
report Hate Crime. 




Anybody interested in attending these meetings should contact sam.cooke@pftameside.org OR liz.wright@pfttameside.org. (Telephone number - 0161 308 3699 - People First Tameside).

Account on Linkedin

Dear all;

More to follow but I have created a link for myself on linkedin
giving more details about some of the projects I am involved in.

This can be accessed here

 

My Charity - Unique Driven Determined

I started my charity in early 2011 as named above in light of governement cuts that are diminishing the funds of local charities that provide vital equality and diversity services within the community.

My first event a variety night of poetry and music which took place in April 2011at Aldwinians RUFC Club in Audenshaw raised over £400.00 for local Charities.

I am now starting another project to raise monies for a chosen local charity an Equality and diversity anthology of poetry by local poets this project of my own manufacture in order to raise
 Equality and Diversity awareness.

Anyone wishing to contribute to this anthology can contact me on this blog with contact details an I wlll
endevour to contact them with further information.

Introduction

Hi, my name's Katy Robinson and I am a community volunteer inn the field of equality and diversity in the tameside / greater manchester area.

I first got involved with equality and diveristy issues in 2006 upon after leaving my last employment. I became interested in this due to my own disabilities and a general lack of information / access to access and networking.

To date, I am currently involved in a lot of voluntary groups in the tamside / Greater Manchester area in this area which are too numerous to mention but include the Tameside and Glossop PCT, Consumer Advisory Panel and tameside Hospital Disability Working Group to name but three.

I am newly qualified in Managing Equality and Diversity in a organisation ILM (level 4) and also have certificates in advocacy training. I also have business studies qualifications and a 20 year background in administtration and Law.

The point behind this blog is to share related  information within the community, queries and offer advice - any isses that may effect up and coming legislative changes in respect of Disability Benefits wherever I can assist.