Guide to User-Led Service Reviews
Background
For the first time, comprehensive Standards for Disability Information and Advice Provision in Scotland were published in 1999. Because of higher than expected demand, they were reprinted in 2001 and copies continue to be available free from the Scottish Accessible Information Forum (SAIF).
Developments such as the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act and the establishment of the Disability Rights Commission have encouraged greater accessibility, and the SAIF Standards have a key role in that process.
The Standards are intended to assist agencies in the voluntary, private and statutory sectors to ensure that disabled people can access effective information and advice services. They remain innovative and unique in the field and were developed following extensive consultation with service providers and disabled people.
The Standards are written to be relevant to all agencies, large and small, urban and rural, specialist and general. In addition, limited resources should not be seen as a reason for not striving to meet high standards. Innovative practices can achieve a great deal, many of the standards requiring only the will of the agency.
This guide is designed to assist agencies to test the success of their implementation of the SAIF Standards, and like the Standards document it stresses the requirement to involve disabled people in the review, planning and development of services.
|top|