Happy Friday all!
On my travels through the Citizen Space Aggregator this week (on which there are over 1,000 open engagement activities at the moment) I was pleased to see a number of activities that were published in more than one format – such as easy-read, different languages, or featuring sign language and so on.
Even if an organisation has made sure they’ve stuck to accessibility principles, offering a consultation or engagement activity in the standard format might not work for everyone due to differing needs and circumstances. So offering alternate versions is good practice all round.
Here are a few examples of customers who are offering alternate versions of their engagement activities at the moment.
Police Scotland, UK
Police Scotland have embedded processes of offering all of their engagement activity in alternate formats. This exercise on Police Scotland’s use of Body Worn Video is an example of their BSL version. It’s a pretty contentious topic and is likely to gather some passionate and opposing views so it’s vital that they’re as inclusive as possible to ensure everyone gets their say.
Ministry of Justice, NZ
The NZ MoJ are consulting on changes to adoption laws in New Zealand. The existing law is over 65 years old and needs updating, so this consultation is seeking views on how adoption law in New Zealand can accurately represent and serve a modern NZ. Overseas and intercountry adoptions make up the majority of adoptions made and recognised in New Zealand, and the supporting information for this consultation is offered in no less than eight languages (including Te Reo and English). Additionally, a braille version is available on request, and New Zealand Sign Language and Easy Read will be available from July.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), UK
GMCA are consulting on a gender-based violence strategy. They’ve recognised that everyone can be a victim of gender-based violence, no matter their disability status, so they’ve offered a version of this important consultation in an easy-read format. These versions are generally designed so that a support worker can sit with a respondent and go through the questions, which is why in this case GMCA have opted for a print-out version of the survey.
Citizen Space is a citizen engagement platform trusted by government around the world. Government organisations and public bodies use Citizen Space to connect with more citizens, increase engagement and improve processes.
To learn more about what Citizen Space can do for your organisation, book a free demo and we’ll walk you through it.
