SAIF: Members and membership

The Scottish Accessible Information Forum (SAIF) is always interested in hearing from potential new members. SAIF is an advisory group promoting accessible information provision for disabled people and their carers throughout Scotland.

Direct experience

As a group dealing with issues affecting disabled people and their carers, it is a priority that the majority of members have direct experience of disability. We therefore strongly encourage the participation of disabled people. To support this, we provide all our material in members preferred format, organise any aids/adaptations for meetings and will pay members and their personal assistants expenses for travel and accommodation when required.

As well as being on the full SAIF advisory body, members are encouraged to be part of one or more working groups which work with the SAIF project staff to develop the SAIF objectives.

Members of the Scottish Accessible Information Forum

Ben Forsyth (Chairperson)

Welfare rights officer at Midlothian Council 

Claire Brennan (Vice Chairperson)

HR & Benefits Lead (EESS Project, NHSScotland) NHS Scotland

 

Jean Alcock

Sheila Hands

David Armstrong

David has 15 years experience in public sector communications and is currently the Planning and Production Editor with the Student Loans Company .

Mary Evans

Dyslexia Scotland Board Member

Bobby Park

Retired engineer and project manager, with 3 children and 4 grandchildren.  Bobby provides access consultancy and disability equality training and coaches disabled kids various sports.  Bobby is also involved with the Glasgow Access Panel, the Glasgow Disability Alliance and the National Advisory Panel for campaigning for Leonard Chesire

Andy Groves

Information officer at Grapevine, an information and advice service that is part of the Lothian Centre for Integrated Living .

Lucie McAnespie

Head of Adult Speech and Language Therapy at Edenhall Hospital, East Lothian.

Nicola Noon

Information Officer at Scottish Council on Deafness .

Robert Sneddon

Volunteer advice worker for Wigtownshire Coalition of Disabled People

Sandra Wilson

Sandra recently retired from Fife Council and is now a part-time IT trainer and volunteer for a number of agencies.  Sandra has been a member of SAIF since 2005 and currently chairs the SAIF Ecommunication Working Group and is a member of the Promotions Working Group.

Sandra's background is all age careers guidance and wise experience in information work including expertise on making information accessible for disabled people.  Sandra has an Arts degree and a Masters and is a fully qualified careers adviser and a chartered member of the Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

Fiona Gray 

 Fiona works for Disability Information and Advice Greater Glasgow, DIGG and the University of Glasgow.

Alex Stuart

Alex currently works at the University of Edinburgh in IT support. He joined SAIF when working as an Information and Development Officer for the enquire helpline (http://enquire.org.uk), where he worked to produce effective and accessible information in multiple formats. 

Margaret Simpson

I am a disabled lady who has been heavily involved in the Third Sector for a long time.  My main areas of interest are helping organisations develop and be sustainable.  I am chair/director of Scottish Borders Social Enterprise Chamber, Convenor of the Community Care Forum and heavily involved with the local agencies around disability and equality and am a member of the access panel.

John Paul Moffat

 I am one of the Directors at dates-n-mates which is a dating and friendship agency run by and for people with learning disabilities.  We set up events, meet members and also do talks about what we do at dates-n-mates.  I work as 1 of 5 Employment Champions at the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability which involves talking at AGMs, conferences and the NHS BATH (Better Access to Health), of which I am a member.  We talk about accessibility with the new Accident and Emergency at the Southern General, due to open in 2015.  Just recently I was Participation Officer for Enable Scotland where I was finding out how people with learning disabilities are involved in recruitment.