The Scottish Government has funded the Equality Network to do some work on the intersections of gender identity and sexual orientation with disability. The Out to Access Project is engaging with disabled LGBT people and organisations to improve awareness of the needs of disabled LGBT people and access to the services they use.

The Equality Network is holding focus groups in Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dumfries for disabled LGBT people to share their experiences of accessing services and their ideas about how services can be more inclusive and accessible.

Contact Sam Rankin, Intersectional Projects Co-ordinator at the Equality Network
sam@equality-network.org / 0131 467 6039 / 0774 704 0355
www.equality-network.org/outaccess

The focus group sessions will be divided into two sections; one focusing on disability and gender identity and gender reassignment and the other on disability and sexual orientation.

The focus group in Inverness will take place on Saturday 24 September

11:00 - 1:00 Gender Identity/Gender Reassignment and Disability
1:00 - 1:30 Lunch
1:30 - 3:30 Sexual Orientation and Disability

During the focus group, people will interview each other in pairs about their experiences of accessing services. The information gathered from these interviews will then be fed into small group discussions and finally fed back to the whole group.

There will be personal assistants available to assist people with taking notes if needed. All disabled LGBT people will be welcome to book for either one or both sessions. Travel costs (and accommodation where necessary) will be paid for.
From these focus groups and interviews, the Equality Network will produce a report on how services can best be accessible and inclusive of disabled LGBT people. The report will clearly treat sexual orientation and gender identity/gender reassignment equally and in separate sections.

Everyone involved in the focus groups and interviews will get a draft of the report for comment and feedback (around the end of November) before the final draft goes to print (mid January).

The Out to Access Project will also involve interviews with at least 12 organisations, 4 training sessions for organisations, 2 local Action Groups (in Dumfries and in Glasgow) and a residential weekend for 10 - 15 disabled LGBT people and LGBT people from Minority Ethnic backgrounds to put together stories of accessing services to be published on the Internet.