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April 2024 newsletter
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Welcome to the April edition of your Inclusion Barnet newsletter!
It's packed with info on consultations, services, community events and ways to be heard. You'll also find some of the top local and national news affecting Disabled people including those with mental health issues and long-term conditions.
To find out more on each article, just click on its title.
We were delighted by the high turnout at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) last month. A big thank you to all our members, friends, colleagues, and partners who joined us for this important event.
The meeting featured informative presentations from our staff, highlighting key projects and achievements throughout 2023. We also had the pleasure of hearing a closing address from local councillor, Zahra Beg, Cabinet Member for Equalities, Voluntary & Community Sector.
Inclusion Barnet News
Join us! Current vacancies at Inclusion Barnet
Director of Communities (peer role)
Senior Communications and PR Officer (peer role)
Mental Health Charter Implementation Officer (peer role)
Healthy Heart team wins award for outstanding service
We’re super proud of our Healthy Heart team, now part of our Barnet Healthwatch offer, for their achievement. The African Caribbean Culture Society of Barnet gave this award in recognition of its positive impact on Barnet residents health over the past 21 months.
We were sad to see Cristina Andreatta leave this month after a short but very productive time with us. And we'll also very much miss our Peer Copywriter Jo Weston who left at the end of her contract last month.
Opportunities to create change
Have you seen our new consultations and campaigns page on the Inclusion Barnet website? It shows you lots of opportunities to get involved with local and national disability rights.
Some local consultations receive as few as 14 online responses*. If just 15 of our members' responded to these, we could flip the script on disability representation.
Here's four of the many opportunities to get involved:
Barnet Team seek diverse voices for sustainable travel
The Barnet Active Transport Team is looking for volunteers, to join their discussions on sustainable transport in the borough. It’s crucial that disabled people’s voices are included, so email Paul Salman to find out more or get involved: pauls@goodgym.org.
Street Trading Policy consultation 2024
Barnet Council need your views on the street trading policies for Barnet. Examples of street trading include market stalls, shopfront displays and on-street seating for cafés.
Closes: 31 May 2024
Burnt Oak experiment of Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ)
Starting April 8th, 2024, there will be a trial parking zone in Burnt Oak Central called the BOC CPZ. This zone will last up to a year and a half. The council is asking for feedback during the first six months to see if adjustments are needed.
Closes: 30 September 2024
Find all of Barnet Council's consultations on the Engage Barnet website.
*For example: Barnet Council's proposed Fees and Charges 2024-25 for services, which got 14 online responses.
Local news
Catch up on Barnet Question Time discussion
Over 250 people signed up for the Barnet Question Time event with Barry Rawlings, the leader of Barnet Council. If you missed it, you can watch the recording on YouTube.
Ready to vote on Thursday 2 May?
All households in Barnet were recently sent a letter stating who is registered to vote at the address. If you’re not, you can still register. Find out how and where to get support to apply if needed. Don’t forget to take your photo ID with you when you go to vote!
Barnet family gets life-changing equipment through fund
A young disabled person in Barnet has been granted life-changing equipment through a fund for lower-income families, where the disabled person is living at home. The Family Fund is open to disabled young adults aged 18-24.
National Jewish group focuses on disability inclusion
United Synagogue, which has 57 centres nationally, has committed to improving accessibility for disabled people at its synagogues, including in Barnet where they have installed a shabbat lift.
On a low income and live in Barnet? You could get support
As well as listing the benefits you might be entitled to, Barnet Council’s benefits calculator provides links to support services, including debt advice. It’s available in multiple languages.
National news - local impact
Mass protest against DWP measures
Disability groups protested DWP benefits deaths in Westminster and blocked roads. This level of protest by disabled people hasn’t happened for over twenty years.
Campaigners advise MPs to scrap plans on monitoring accounts
The DWP is seeking powers to monitor the bank accounts of those who receive benefits, to help detect fraud. Campaigners say it is an invasion of privacy and risks people being wrongly accused.
Poll: representation of disabled people in the media is lacking
A recent poll conducted by Ipsos suggests that many disabled people do not feel represented by images in the media, advertising and on TV.
Be an inclusion champion
Have you read it yet? 'Being Seen' blog on neurodivergence
There are neurodivergent people working in and running every type of organisation and business, even if we don’t know it. But fear of being stigmatised or undermined stops lots of us from being open about who we are at work. Read our latest staff blog in the 'Being Seen' series, on neurodivergence.
Tip of the month: Creating accessible data
Offer multiple methods of understanding your data to offer more accessibility. This can include using graphs and charts, providing summaries and giving context to your data.
Join us
Work with us: Director of Communities (peer role)
Be our strategic lead within our award-winning Barnet Together partnership overseeing our community organisation support, and representing the voluntary sector at the most senior level in Borough meetings.
Work with us: Senior Communications and PR Officer (peer role)
We’re looking for a natural communicator who can tell our story in an accessible and compelling way, produce newsletters and update social media.
Work with us: Mental Health Charter Implementation Officer (peer role)
Play a vital role in driving up awareness of the Mental Health Charter with businesses, organisations, and service providers across the borough of Barnet.
What's it like working here?
Our staff recommend us!
100% of staff who responded to our most recent employee survey (2023) said they would recommend Inclusion Barnet as a good place to work.
What our leavers say:
“What I’ll miss most about working for Inclusion Barnet is the friendly team who are always happy to share their lived experience of disability in order for us to learn and become better at what we do.”
Sarah, former Comms Officer at Inclusion Barnet
Become a member of Inclusion Barnet
Individual membership is FREE and is for disabled people, which may include long term conditions or mental health issues and/or carers. Find out how being a member and sharing your lived experience can lead to positive change:
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About Us
Inclusion Barnet is a Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisation (DDPO), based in Barnet, North-West London. This means that all of our Trustees and most of our staff have lived experience of disability. Learning to use lived experience for social change is a skill. We use this understanding to design and deliver higher quality, more person-centred services.
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