Accessibility and your community group

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In order to ensure your group is inclusive and open to everyone you should make your events and information as accessible as possible. There are loads of existing websites and specialist organisations providing information on accessibility (many of them listed here).

Here are some useful resources to get you started.

Making events accessible

Online events

Making your information accessible

  • Scotland’s Inclusive Communication Hub, hosted by Disability Equality Scotland and Sense Scotland, is a great pleace to start learning about how to make your information and communication accessible. This website explains what inclusive communication is and provides guides on how to go about making your information more accessible. Click here to view the website (external site)

  • West Dunbartonshire Council has produced a guide called ‘Communicating Effectively’, covering many aspects of inclusive communication, from using plain language to how to communicate inclusively with groups with protected characteristics.* Click here to download (pdf)

*The Equality Act (2010) states it is against the law to discriminate against someone because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Social media

Other useful guides

  • The Scottish Government’s Office of Chief Social Policy Adviser has produced ‘Tackling Inequlaity Terminology Guidance’. It’s basically a glossary of key terms such as ‘inequality’, ‘equalities’ and ‘hard to reach’ to help you make sense of all the jargon. Click here to download (pdf)

  • Black and Ethnic Minority Scotland (BEMIS) has created a guide called How to Engage with Ethnic Minorities and Hard to Reach Groups, which contains information on improving accessibility for diverse communities (specifically ethnic minoritity communities and migrants) as well as practical exercises and templates. Click to download guide (pdf hosted on external website).

  • Another potentially useful guide to engaging with ethnic minority communities has been developed by Skills Development Scotland (SDS). It’s targeted at SDS training providers but much of the information is applicable to wider contexts, including community group activity. Click to download (pdf).

Further information

  • See a list of organisations supporting equality and inclusion on the Communities Channel Scotland resource page, ‘Involving Everyone’. Click here to view.

  • We’ve also created a resource page focused on ‘equality’, with a growing list of useful resources. Click here to view.