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North Lanarkshire Council's Department of Community Services is currently working through a comprehensive programme of service improvements to comply with the full enforcement of the Disability Discrimination Act in October 2004.
This act underlines to the Council the importance of ensuring equality of access and opportunity to Council services by disabled people and should be viewed in the context of the Council's Equal Opportunities Policy, Community Services Service and Budget planning process and Creative Services Service Standards. The Access Policy within Creative Services will focus on improving service delivery and so:-
- promote social inclusion;
- deliver responsive and relevant services and opportunities;
- and develop an ongoing process relating to good equality practices.
The Access Policy recognises the social model of disability as creating barriers, which 'disable' many North Lanarkshire residents from fully exercising their rights as citizens. These barriers include:-
- buildings and facilities that are inaccessible;
- information that is not given in an accessible format;
- and prejudice, negative attitudes and stereotyping.
Our intentions as a service provider are to:-
- provide high quality relevant arts opportunities in accessible and appropriate community facilities;
- maintain an open dialogue with a wide range of community groups and individuals to ensure we provide accessible and appropriate services;
- provide information on our services in a range of accessible mediums and suitable formats;
- identify staff training needs in relation to equality issues;
- and apply the Council's Equality Policy in all aspects of our service.
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