Have you ever felt excluded because of communication barriers?

EmilyG

Hi everyone, 
I'm new to the Scope Community but not to disability rights. My twin sons recently started school and I've found the information for parents has been really inaccessible to me and likely others.  I'm also working on making information and communication more accessible at work and wondered how many of Scope's community have experienced communication barriers affecting participation? 

Alex_Alumni

Hello there @EmilyG and welcome to the online community, thank you for joining.

I've moved your poll over into the Education category to help members who might be in similar situations share their thoughts.

Can I ask, is this an informal question, or part of a study?

If you need a hand with anything in the meantime, just let us know.

Alex

EmilyG

Hi Alex
Not quite sure if my reply to this ever came through. Also not sure where the education section is but very happy to hear if that had any responses! 

It’s in a personal capacity, although relates to my work, passions & values - equity, rights & inclusion.
I now sadly have a double disability - after cancer diagnosis - and am finding the DWP completely discriminatory in their practices and want this to be challenged. They say “there are many ways you can communicate with us (sic)” but then the only route to contact them - and request reasonable adjustments - is by phone! I used to work on implementation of the Equality Act and best practice. How far we have fallen. The design of forms & thinking about genuine accessible alternatives is critical to disabled people’s equity, rights and inclusion. 
Emily 

rustledjimm

Yes

With how much is online these days it does consistently surprise me how difficult it is to contact the DWP. Either through post (very slow by today's standards) or through telephone, which can be difficult for people and is frustrating given how long the queue times can be.