Westminster Health Forum – Improving care for people with learning disabilities (May, 2016: London, UK)

Seminar Title: Improving Care for People With Learning Disabilities – Commissioning, Regulation And Reducing Hospital Admissions

Date: Wednesday, 11^th May 2016

Place: Sixty One Whitehall, London SW1A 2ET

 **This event is CPD certified**

 Guest of Honour: Dr Dominic Slowie, National Clinical Director for Learning Disabilities, NHS England and Chair, North East and Cumbria Learning Disability Network

This timely seminar will provide an opportunity to assess future policy priorities for people with learning disabilities and/or autism across health and social care. Delegates will consider key issues outlined in NHS England, ADASS and the LGA’s Building the Right Support plan, which aims to reduce the reliance on inpatient care, establish a new service model by 2019 and create joined-up Transforming Care Partnerships for health and social care commissioners locally. Further sessions focus on plans outlined in the Department of Health response to the No Voice Unheard, No Right Ignored consultation, which included proposals for a named social worker and potential amendments to regulations in the Mental Health Act 1983. The agenda also looks at next steps for developing the workforce, and challenges for integrating and personalising care for people with learning disabilities through the use of personal budgets and the Integrated Personal Commissioning programme.

For more information, including our speakers, please click here.

Westminster Education Forum on ‘Policy Priorities for SEND (Nov, 2016: London, UK)

Title: Policy priorities for SEND – implementing local area inspections, raising educational outcomes and extending support for families

Date: Thursday, 3^rd November 2016

Place: Central London, UK

**This Event is CPD Certified**

Description: Bringing together key stakeholders and policymakers from across the education sector, this seminar will consider policy priorities for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Planned sessions will also look at measures to improve the educational attainment of children with SEND, including government’s new review into assessment of pupils with lower attainment – expected to be published at the beginning of 2016 – which follows evidence cited by the Department for Education that 50,000 pupils currently fall below the standard required to take national curriculum tests, including many with SEND. Delegates will also assess the implementation and progress to date of the SEND Code of Practice – two years on from its introduction – including the impact of the Local Offer, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans and personal budgets, which aim to give children and families more choice and control over the kinds of support they receive.

At this early stage, we are delighted that Dr Adam Boddison, Chief Executive, nasen has agreed to be a Guest of Honour at this seminar. Nigel Thompson, Head of Children and Health & Justice, CQC; Janet Thompson, Deputy Chair, Rochford Review and Headteacher, Dorothy Goodman School, Leicestershire and a senior speaker confirmed from SENJIT (Special Educational Needs Joint Initiative for Training), Institute of Education, University College London has also agreed to deliver a keynote speech. Matthew Ellis, Associate Director, South West Maternity and Children’s Strategic Clinical Network, NHS England; Simon Knight, Deputy Headteacher, Frank Wise School, Oxfordshire; Laxmi Patel, Solicitor and Head of Education, Boyes Turner and Julie Stockdale, Head of Schools & Commissioning, Surrey County Council have also agreed to speak.

For more details: click here.

CFP: special forum on Disability and Aging for the Review of Disability Studies

We are pleased to announce the release of an exciting Call for Papers for a special forum on Disability and Aging for the Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal. 

This is a timely topic because population aging is taking place in nearly all countries across the globe and, by mid-century, older persons are projected to exceed the number of children for the first time ever (UN, 2013). Within reports published by global governing bodies, disability is routinely assumed and directly referenced as a consequence of population aging. Although powerful in their potential to direct support to targeted issues, such reports may also contribute to a “crisis rhetoric” (Kennedy, 2002, p. 226) that rests on an “inappropriate conflation” (Chivers, 2011, p. 22) between disability and aging, which begins with the assumption that all older people are disabled by virtue of their being old. Such conflation has implications for public policy and entitlement to services and supports. Furthermore, research, policy and practice have tended to treat disability as a product of unsuccessful aging, and aging as an obstacle to living well with a disability. There is a paucity of research that explores the nuances and complexities of the relationship between disability and aging (Freedman, 2014).

Papers considered may take the form of academic and creative works, as well as reflections on international disability-specific policies, practices, pedagogies and developments.

Please click here: http://www.rds.hawaii.edu/special-forum-on-disability-and-aging-call-for-papers/ to download the remainder of the announcement including a list of suggested topics for exploration and detailed submission requirements through the RDS online submission system at www.rds.hawaii.edu

Please note that the deadline for submission of papers is October 31^st, 2015. If you have further questions please contact the Special Guest Editors Dr. Katie Aubrecht and Dr. Tamara Krawchenko katieaubrecht@msvu.ca and tkrawche@gmail.com.

Reminder: Next DRF Seminar – Wed. 11th Feb (2pm-4pm)

When: Tuesday, 11th February 2014: 2pm-4pm – Arundel 10111 (SHU)

Where: Arundel Room 10111 (SHU) [the Arundel Building = 122 Charles Street, City Campus, Sheffield Hallam University, S1 1WB.  For a map of City Campus click here.]

Everyone welcome!

Slot 1: Andreas Dimopoulos (Brunel University, UK): Police and Disability: Legal and Policy Considerations from the Social Model and British Sign Language

Abstract: In a recent case from the European Court of Human Rights, Dordevic v Croatia, the ECtHR held that Croatian police violated Art. 3 ECHR, because the police failed to protect a person with intellectual disabilities and his mother from disability harassment. The similarities with Fiona Pilkington’s case are striking. In UK law, Z v Police Commissioner for the Metropolis  and Finnigan v Northumbria Police raise some important issues as to how the police address issues of disability. I will briefly discuss these cases in order to argue that the duty to promote equality under the Equality Act 2010 requires a stronger application through the social model of disability: the police has to be able to assess and be responsive to the specific needs of the person with disabilities. In the case of Finnigan this required the use of British Sign Language. I argue that the benefits of wide use of languages such as BSL, or Makaton are not fully appreciated by policy.

Slot 2: Dianne Theakstone (University of Stirling, UK): Title TBC

…currently researching to what extent the governance structures in Scotland and Norway facilitate or impede disabled peoples’ access to independent living.

Upcoming events you might be interested in:

• Feb: ‘Listening to dis/abled children in research’ w/Katherine Runswick-Cole (Feb 2014: SHU, UK)
• March: DRF Seminar #5 (March 2014: SHU, UK)
• May: Gender and Disability: Asking Difficult Questions (May, 2014: Sheffield, UK)
• July: CAMHS 2014 Conference – Children and Young People’s Mental Health (July 2014 : Northampton, UK)

Event: ‘Listening to dis/abled children in research’ w/Katherine Runswick-Cole (Feb 2014: SHU, UK)

Date: Thursday February 20^th 2014

Venue: Stoddart Building, Room 7330 http://www.shu.ac.uk/university/visit/find-us/plancity.html. at Sheffield Hallam University, UK.  

Time: Refreshments will be available from 4.00pm and the seminar will begin at 4.30pm. Latest end time will be 6.30pm.

The Equality, Diversity and Social Justice Research group presents a seminar by Dr. Katherine Runswick-Cole (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)

Title: Listening to dis/abled children in research: Thinking about policy and practice

Abstract: Listening to the voice of the child has long been a key concern of practitioners, policy makers and researchers.  And yet, children and young people continue to report that they are not being listened to when important decisions are made about their lives (HMSO, 2013).  These challenges are often magnified in the lives of disabled children whose lives are often pushed to the margins as they are excluded from the category of children ‘able’ to give their views (Curran and Runswick-Cole, 2013).  In this presentation, I will reflect on the joys and challenges of listening to children’s views in the research process.  The paper draws on examples from two recently completed research projects (Does Every Child Matter, post-Blair?  The interconnections of disabled childhoods, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, 2008 – 2011; Resilience in the lives of disabled people across the life course, funded by Scope, 2011-2013) as well as from two books (Currran & Runswick-Cole, 2013; Mallett and Runswick-Cole, 2014) in order to consider how a dialogue between research, policy and practice might open up opportunities for listening to children.

References

• Curran, T. and Runswick-Cole, K. (2013) Disabled Children’s Childhood Studies: critical perspectives in a global context, London: Palgrave MacMillan.
• HMSO (2013) Children and Families Bill, London: HMSO.
• Mallett, R. and Runswick-Cole, K. (2014) Approaching Disability: critical issues and perspectives, Abingdon: Routledge.

Katherine is Senior Research Fellow in Disability Studies and Psychology at the Research Institute for Health and Social Change at Manchester Metropolitan University  http://www.rihsc.mmu.ac.uk/staff/profile.php?surname=Runswick-Cole&name=Katherine

Attendance is FREE! but space will be limited so if intending to come please email Ian Chesters at i.chesters@shu.ac.uk

Event explores SEND reform (May, 2014, UK)

Event: Westminster Education Forum Keynote Seminar on ‘SEND reform: Implementation, Support and Widening Provision’

with Stephen Kingdom, Deputy Director, Special Educational Needs and Disability, Department for Education

Chaired by: Robert Buckland MP, Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism

When: Morning on Thursday, 8^th May 2014         Where: Central London        This event is CPD certified

Follow on Twitter @WEdFEvents or at the Website: www.westminstereducationforum.co.uk

N.B.: there is a charge for most delegates, although concessionary and complimentary places are available (subject to terms and conditions – see below).

Description:  This timely seminar will focus on a series of reforms to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision in England set out in the Children and Families Bill, including the announcement of the new SEN reform grant to support local councils ahead of planned implementation in September 2014.  

Delegates will discuss the implications for education, health, and social care providers regarding the decision to replace the ‘statements’ system with new integrated Education, Health and Care Plans.

Further sessions will focus on support for families and the implementation by local authorities of ‘personal budgets’ to buy care and support, and the impact on providers and young people of extending support for SEND to  include 25-year-olds and those with disabilities who do not have special educational needs.

The conference will bring together key policymakers and regulatory officials with local authority representatives, school and college leaders, student support contacts in universities, health and social care professionals, parent groups, children’s charities and academics.

Overall, topics for discussion include:

• Education, Health and Care Plans: challenges for co-ordination around integrating provision;
• Personal budgets: supporting families in using their budgets, and providing for those who opt out;
• The ‘local offer’: increasing choice, awareness, and quality of provision for families with children and young people with SEND; and
• Extending provision for 25-year-olds: its impact on young people and providers of SEND support, as well as further and higher education institutions.

The draft agenda is regularly updated and the latest version is available to download here. The seminar is organised on the basis of strict impartiality by the Westminster Education Forum.

Speakers: We are delighted to be able to include in this seminar a keynote address from: Stephen Kingdom, Deputy Director, Special Educational Needs and Disability, Department for Education.

Further confirmed speakers include: Meera Craston, Director, SQW Consulting; Eirwen Grenfell-Essam, Chair, Network81; Janet Leach, Head of Service, Joint Service for Disabled Children, Enfield Council and Chair, Short Breaks Network; Andy Minnion, Director, The Rix Centre, University of East London; Peter Quinn, Vice-Chair, National Association of Disability Practitioners and Director of Student Support Services, University of York; Douglas Silas, Principal, Douglas Silas Solicitors; Dr Carol Tozer, Executive Director of Services, Scope; Nigel Utton, Headteacher, Bromstone Primary School, Kent and Chair, Heading for Inclusion and a senior speaker confirmed from Ambitious about Autism.

Additional senior participants are being approached.

Networking: This seminar will present an opportunity to engage with key policymakers and other interested parties, and is CPD certified (more details). Places have been reserved by officials from the DfE; MoJ; Office of the Children’s Commissioner and the TSol. Also due to attend are representatives from Ambitious about Autism; Beech Hill Primary School, Bedfordshire; Bromstone Primary School, Kent; Columbus School and College, Essex; Drumbeat School & ASD Service, London; Hertfordshire County Council; Integrated Services Programme; KCIL; London Borough of Camden; London Borough of Ealing; North Ridge School, Yorkshire; Shaw Trust; SQW Consulting; St Nicholas School, Essex; Stoke City Council; The Village School, London; The Walnuts School; Tribal; UK Behaviour Analysis and Research Group; University of Chichester; University of East London; Wandsworth Connexions SEN Team and Worcestershire County Council.

Overall, we expect speakers and attendees to be a senior and informed group numbering around 120, including Members of both Houses of Parliament, senior officials from the DfE, Ofsted, Ofqual and other Government departments and agencies, schools and teaching professionals, representatives of trade unions and local government, groups representing parents and students, specialist academics and charities, together with representatives of the national and trade press.

Output and About Us: A key output of the seminar will be a transcript of the proceedings, sent out around 10 working days after the event to all attendees and a wider group of Ministers and officials at DfE, HM Treasury and other government departments and agencies affected by the issues; and Parliamentarians with a special interest in these areas. It will also be made available more widely. This document will include transcripts of all speeches and questions and answers sessions from the day, along with access to PowerPoint presentations, speakers’ biographies, an attendee list, an agenda, sponsor information, as well as any subsequent press coverage of the day and any articles or comment pieces submitted by delegates. It is made available subject to strict restrictions on public use, similar to those for Select Committee Uncorrected Evidence, and is intended to provide timely information for interested parties who are unable to attend on the day.

All delegates will receive complimentary PDF copies and are invited to contribute to the content.

The Westminster Education Forum is strictly impartial and cross-party, and draws on the considerable support it receives from within Parliament and Government, and amongst the wider stakeholder community. The Forum has no policy agenda of its own. Forum events are frequently the platform for major policy statements from senior Ministers, regulators and other officials, opposition speakers and senior opinion-formers in industry and interest groups. Events regularly receive prominent coverage in the national and trade press.

Booking arrangements: To book places, please use our online booking form.

Once submitted, this will be taken as a confirmed booking and will be subject to our terms and conditions below.

Please pay in advance by credit card on 01344 864796. If advance credit card payment is not possible, please let me know and we may be able to make other arrangements.

Options and charges are as follows:

• Places at SEND reform: implementation, support and widening provision (including refreshments and PDF copy of the transcripts) are £190 plus VAT;
• Concessionary rate places for small charities, unfunded individuals and those in similar circumstances are £80 plus VAT. Please be sure to apply for this at the time of booking.

For those who cannot attend:

• Copies of the briefing document, including full transcripts of all speeches and the questions and comments sessions and further articles from interested parties, will be available approximately 10 days after the event for £95 plus VAT;
• Concessionary rate: £50 plus VAT.

If you find the charge for places a barrier to attending, please let me know as concessionary and complimentary places are made available in certain circumstances (but do be advised that this typically applies to individual service users or carers, full-time students, people between jobs or who are fully retired with no paid work, and representatives of small charities – not businesses, individuals funded by an organisation, or larger charities/not-for-profit companies). Please note terms and conditions below (including cancellation charges).

Celebrating Recent PhD Success by DRF Members

Today we are celebrating recent PhD successes by DRF Members, and giving a shout out to their excellent work. 

A founding memeber of the DRF – Dr Tabby Collingbourne (University of Sheffield). Thesis: “Realising Disability Rights?” –  online at http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/3904/

A critical political discourse analysis of implementation in England of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, focusing on socio-economic rights set out under Article 19, the right to live independently and be included in the community.

Dr Jenny Slater (Manchester Metropolitan University). Thesis: “Constructions, Perceptions and Expectations of Being Disabled and Young: A Critical Disability Perspective”

Now a Lecturer in Education and Disability Studies at Sheffield Hallam University (j.slater@shu.ac.uk), you can read more about Jenny’s research in the following publications:

• Slater, J. (2012) ‘Youth for sale: Using critical disability perspectives to examine the embodiment of ‘youth’ Societies 2:3, pp.195-209.
• Slater, J. (forthcoming 2013) ‘Research with dis/abled youth: taking a critical disability, ‘critically young’ positionality’. In K. Runswick-Cole and T. Curran (eds.), Disabled Children’s Childhood Studies: Critical Approaches in a Global Context. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
• Slater, J. (forthcoming 2013) ‘Playing grown-up: using critical disability perspectives to rethink youth’. In A. Azzopardi (ed.), Youth: Responding to Lives – An International Handbook. Rotterdam: Sense Publications.

Congratulations both.

If you, or a researcher you know, would like to celebrate PhD success in this way – let us know.

Next DRF Seminar: Katherine Runswick-Cole, Tuesday 18th December, 2pm-3.30pm (followed by Christmas tea!)

We’re very excited to welcome back the fabulous Katherine Runswick-Cole (Research Institute of Health and Social Change, Department of Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University), after which we’ll be heading out for a christmassy bite to eat. Come join us!

Date/Time: Tuesday 18th December 2012 2.00pm – 3.30pm

Venue: Room 10212 in the Arundel Building, City Campus, Sheffield Hallam University (More information on the venue can be found here)

Title: (Neuro)diversity: Pros and cons for (neoliberal) social policy

Abstract: This paper sets out to explore the term ‘neurodiversity’ and to examine the potential and limitations of ‘a politics of neurodiversity’ (Singer, 1999) in a neoliberal social policy context.  This work in progress seeks to problematise the notions of neurodiversity and neo-liberal social policy and to explore the possibilities of a politics of dismodernity (Davis, 2003).

 

There are still slots available in to present in 2013, so if you, or anybody you know, would like to present at a DRF seminar please do get in touch.  Alternatively, let us know if there is an issue/article/book on which you’d like to facilitate discussion.  Please email Jenny Slater: j.slater@shu.ac.uk

Updates from our Canadian colleagues…

New Book The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaning by Tanya Titchkosky is Out Now!

About the book: Values such as ‘access’ and ‘inclusion’ are unquestioned in the contemporary landscape. But many methods of addressing these issues – installing signs, ramps, and accessible washrooms – frame disability only as a problem to be ‘fixed.’ The Question of Access investigates the social meanings of access in contemporary university life from the perspective of Cultural Disability Studies. Through narratives of struggle and analyses of policy and everyday practices, Tanya Titchkosky shows how interpretations of access reproduce conceptions of who belongs, where and when. Titchkosky examines how the bureaucratization of access issues has affected understandings of our lives together in social space. Representing ‘access’ as a beginning point for how disability can be rethought, rather than as a mere synonym for justice, The Question of Access allows readers to critically question their own implicit conceptions of disability, non-disability and access. 

About the author: Tanya Titchkosky is an associate professor and an associate department chair at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

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New Book ‘Disability Politics and Theory’ by A.J. Withers is Out Now!

About the book: An accessible introduction to disability studies, disability politics and theory provides a concise survey of disability history, exploring the concept of disability as it has been conceived from the late 19th century to the present. Further, A.J. Withers examines when, how and why new categories of disability are created and describes how capitalism benefits from and enforces disabled people’s oppression.

Critiquing the model that currently dominates the discipline, the social model of disability, this book offers an alternative: the radical disability model. This model builds on the social model but draws from more recent schools of radical thought, particularly feminism and critical race theory, to emphasize the role of intersecting oppressions in the marginalization of disabled people and the importance of addressing disability both independently and in conjunction with other oppressions. Intertwining theoretical and historical analysis with personal experience this book is a poignant portrayal of disabled people in Canada and the U.S. – and a radical call for social and economic justice.

Contents: Building Models and Constructing Disability * Constructing Difference,
Controlling Deviance: The Eugenic Model * Diagnosing People as Problems: The Medical Model * For Us, Not With Us: The Charity Model * Revolutionizing the Way We See Ourselves: The Rights and Social Models * Looking Back But Moving Forward: The Radical Disability Model * References * Index

About the author: A.J. Withers has been involved in radical organizing, specifically within the radical disability, anti- globalization and anti-poverty movements for 15 years, and has been employed as an organizer with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP).  

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First Issue of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies is Out Now!!!  Check it out here. 

This is a free, open-access journal devoted to cutting edge research in the field, from Canada and around the world. Please have a look at this outstanding collection of articles, consider contributing your work to the journal in the future, and spread the word!

Contents:

• A Brief Introduction to the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies – Michael Bergob
• Canadian Disability Activism and Political Ideas: In and Between Neo-Liberalism and Social Liberalism – Michael J. Prince (1-34)
• Disability History In Canada: Present Work In The Field And Future Prospects – Geoffrey Reaume (35-81)
• Firing Up Disability Studies: A Report from the Edges of the Human Community – Tanya Titchkosky (82-108)
• The Inaccessible Road Not Taken: The Trials, Tribulations And Successes Of Disability Inclusion Within Social Work Post-Secondary Education – Irene Carter, Roy Hanes, Judy E. MacDonald (109-142)
• Profile: The Living Archives Project: Canadian Disability and Eugenics – Colette Leung (143-166)
• Review: Titchkosky, Tanya. The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaning – Allison Hitt (167-170)
• Creative Work: Eulogizing Ebenezer Scrooge – Adam Pottle (171-174)

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 ‘The “Becoming Crisis” of Critical Studies and Praxis’  SESE Graduate Student Conference, OISE, University of Toronto (Saturday April 21, 2012 )

In a post 9/11 world where dissent is actively and continuously shut down and the U.S. has declared war on embodied difference worldwide, what does critical engagement as scholars, activists, and artists mean? How and why does it matter in a world where death, injury, danger, poverty and destitution are still regularly enacted on bodies that are ‘different’? Academic scholarship, political engagement and provocative artistic endeavors must take seriously critiques emanating from the public about their relevance in such a world. As boundaries continue to be drawn between theory and practice, between the myriad academic disciplines concerned with equity, and between activist communities, how might the notion of a ‘becoming crisis’ be engaged by critical studies and praxis in order to refashion scholarship in ways that create more relevant understandings of what it means to be human alongside more viable life-practices.

This year’s SESE Conference theme focuses on the “Becoming Crisis” in critical work – the existential question of “Why are we here?” and perhaps more importantly, “To what end?”

Submissions in a variety of formats and a wide range of disciplines are encouraged. The theme is an invitation toward reflection and interrogation of critical practices in order to challenge the ongoing, global and globalizing war on embodied difference and the enduring privileging of the 1%.

Questions that animate the conference theme include, but are not limited to:

• How does the work produced by the academy both foster and challenge current power relations; how do “we” reinforce present reality yet still push toward something different?
• How is critical race studies and/or anti-racism raising the question of human in new ways? How can conceptions of the limits of viable life (i.e., disability, the subaltern) imposed through dominant political, social and knowledge practices be challenged?
• How can the notion of a becoming crisis in critical work help think about our practices, alongside the animosities between approaches, disciplines and practices differently?
• What are the dangers of the increasing institutionalization of radical social and political movements into the academy – anti-racist, post-colonialism, feminisms, Aboriginal, queer and disability studies, etc.?
• What does it mean to be human?

 If you like to present I’m afriad that the deadline is very soon (but remember the possible time difference!)

Extended deadline: Monday, February 20th, 2012

Submissions may include, but are not limited to:

• Paper presentations: Individual paper presentations will be organized into a panel of three, related by topic area and assigned a moderator.
• Panels: Panels may be pre-constituted and include 3-4 individuals including a moderator, plus a possible discussant.
• Poster: Posters will display on-going research, service, advocacy, or activist projects. 
• Workshop: A facilitated activity involving 3 or more presenters.
• Facilitated Discussion: Discussion with a set topic and a moderator. 
• Artistic work (in all senses of the arts): Critical artistic work that addresses the theme in a range of media is welcome. Keep in mind you will be working in a classroom space unless alternative space is pre-arranged with the organizers.

Please submit an abstract of no more than 200 words to conferencesese@gmail.com by February 20, 2012. Panel proposals require an abstract describing both the panel and the individual papers. For discussions, describe how the time will be utilized and the topic facilitated. Workshop presenters should address methodology, pedagogy, and desired learning outcomes in their submission. Artists must connect their work to the conference theme and briefly describe the optimal setting for their work. Approximately fifteen minutes will be allotted for papers and presentations. Please note in your submission if more time is required.

Papers will be selected through anonymous peer review. Please observe the following procedures to enable the review process:

1. Attach a short biographical note of 50 words on a separate page.
2. Please include your name, institution, abstract, title of session, list of participants (if applicable), and e-mail with your submission.
3. Please include a short statement of 50 words describing how access (see attached guidelines) will be addressed in your presentation.
4. Do not include your name on the same page as the abstract.
5. Type “abstract” in the subject line of your email.

 All welcome!

Information on accessibility and accommodation: patricia.douglas@utoronto.ca.

Papers may be given in English or French, with citations in any language.

All questions can be addressed to the conference co-chairs: Juliet Hess juliet.hess@utoronto.ca; Patty Douglas; Nikoletta Papadopoulos

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European Disability Forum seeks ‘Policy Officer’ and ‘European Parliamentary Officer’: Are you the One?

The European Disability Forum has announced the opening of 2 positions: Policy Officer and; European Parliamentary Officer.

Closing date for receipt of applications: 17 November 2011 ~ Dates of the interview: 24-25-26 November 2011

POLICY OFFICER: More information on EDF website

EDF is seeking a dynamic policy officer with good knowledge on transport, accessibility, gender equality, inclusion and non-discrimination. The ideal candidate is committed to a human rights/social model approach to disability, understanding of social policy in relation to disability policies, able to work effectively in English and French and to assimilate and communicate information. The knowledge of EU policies, EU institutions and procedures will be an asset.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARY OFFICER:  More information on EDF website

EDF is also looking for someone with good knowledge on the European Parliament, its committees, EU legislative process, relations with other institutions and consultative bodies and an ability to promote adequate legislation and policies based on human rights, social inclusion and non-discrimination for people with disabilities. The ideal candidate is: committed to a human rights approach to disability, has a good understanding of the interplay of disability with other policy areas, able to work effectively in English and French and to synthesise and communicate information. The knowledge of EU policies, EU institutions and procedures is essential.