Contents

Enabling Information: A report on improving access and raising standards in information services for disabled people and their carers in Scotland.

1 Information Provision In Scotland

1.1 Sources of information for disabled people

This section of the report and the following three sections of the report summarises the main sources of information currently available in Scotland. It is not based on a comprehensive survey but gives an indication of the scope, pattern, and types of provision.

It is important to distinguish between national and local information, between the role of national and local organisations, and between organisations in the statutory and independent sectors.

The range of organisations involved in providing information and/or advice to people with disabilities includes:-

1. service providers in both statutory and independent sectors;
2. information services which operate within a service providing department or are funded by such a department, or jointly with another agency such as a health board. Examples include
   • welfare benefits advisers
   • Disabled Living Centres which provide information and advice relating to technical aids and equipment which can assist disabled people, elderly people and carers to effectively and safely manage activities of daily life, and other similar centres such as the 12 Disability Resource Centres in Strathclyde, and the resource centres in Grampian;
   • information initiatives such as Grampian Caredata, jointly funded by the social work department and health board, which produces and maintains a database of local information on community and health matters in Grampian Region.
3. libraries. Although the library service is provided by local authorities, and so strictly speaking falls under the first category above, it is considered to differ from other service providers in that the provision of information is one of its primary goals;
4. the local offices of national service providers such as the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service;
5. health professionals, including GPs, health visitors and community nurses;
6. generalist information and advice agencies eg CABx;
7. general disability information services in the independent sector, such as Disablement Information and Advice Lines (DIALs), and local services such as Grapevine in Edinburgh, as well as national bodies such as Enable and Disability Scotland;
8. specialist disability organisations such as the Scottish Council for Spastics and the Multiple Sclerosis Society;
9. commercial bodies and service providers in the private sector; and
10. the increasing numbers of organisations of disabled people which are used as sources of information and advice to other disabled people.

1.2 Disability Scotland survey

Disability Scotland has been conducting a survey of disability related information over the last year with a view to creating a database of these services. A database has been created which can run searches to show the regional breakdown, the type of funding, the type of service provided, staffing, access, opening hours etc. The database is already being used within Disability Scotland but no date has been set for making this available as part of DS Data.

Sub group 3 of the Working Group considered the possibility of using the data from the survey to conduct a mapping exercise. This proved not to be feasible as there is such a wide range of types of organisation and it would be extremely difficult to indicate the level and type of service offered. The group considered that there is not necessarily any correlation between the number of apparent sources of information and whether those outlets are in fact meeting the information needs of people in that area. It was however considered that the survey might produce some useful information at a later stage.