Cavan County Council has come a long way since 2003. We have made what we hope are obvious improvements to our services and facilities. Other local authorities have followed our lead and we have been honoured with a number of national and international awards. Perhaps our most important achievement has been what we have learned, and how this has informed the compilation of this, our first Disability Strategy.
There have been three main stages in our efforts to address the needs of people with disabilities:
Library Access Project: September 2003 to February 2005
In September 2003 Cavan Library Service joined a ground-breaking Library Access project run by the Library Council. We focused on our new library development for Cavan town as we were determined to deliver the best quality library building, services and customer care for people with disabilities. We learned that there are three fundamentally important aspects to getting it right for people with disabilities: effective consultation, leadership and staff training.
The work has continued in Cavan Library Service with new approaches to provision of adaptive and assistive technology and to the HSE Bibliotherapy project.
The emergence of CRAIC: February to September 2005
The success of the library project at a time when disability was high on the national agenda led Cavan County Council to commit to a new initiative, in partnership with the Equality Authority. The programme aimed to apply what had been learned in the library service to the wider County Council, and to come up with ways of making local authority services more accessible. To make this happen, a group of key decision-makers from across the organisation came together, and the CRAIC Team (see Key concepts and roles informing our strategy) was born.
As part of the initiative, the Council undertook five short-term pilot projects. These succeeded in delivering real solutions quickly, and within existing Council resources.
The programme resulted in the Council committing itself to embedding a focus on access into Council policy, practice and service delivery across the board. At the same time National Disability Strategy funding became available. Our strategic thinking about accessibility helped us to get the best for County Cavan out of this opportunity.
Want to know more? Read the "Dara has the CRAIC" booklet which was launched at Johnston Central Library in May 2007.
CRAIC into the Future: September 2005 to October 2008
After the CRAIC project the Council's Senior Management Team adopted a two-pronged approach to mainstreaming accessibility in Cavan:
Strand One:
The CRAIC Advisory Group working in partnership with the CRAIC Team ensure that consultation is central to all developments.
Strand Two:
Harnessing internal leadership and organisational structures.
The CRAIC Team aims to ensure that accessibility features significantly in the work of all sections and at all levels of Cavan County Council, within the framework of the Corporate Plan.
ln addition:
- Accessibility actions feature in annual Business Plans.
- Our Annual Report has a section dedicated to accessibility.
- Review of progress in accessibility is built into the management process.
We have initiated important policies and projects relating to access over the last three years:
- We developed an Integrated Training Programme. This aims to build positive attitudes, in-house knowledge and expertise on disability-related issues. Training delivered to date includes disability awareness, access auditing, literacy awareness and accessible road and street design.
We completed a Disability implementation Plan in late 2007. Based on over 200 best-practice accessibility audits undertaken in 2007, the Plan sets out a programme of prioritised actions to deliver universal access to public spaces, buildings and services.- We were able to optimise the funding available through the National Disability Strategy. The County Council drew down over €1.97 million for Cavan between 2005 and 2008. This funding is crucial, as we need significant resources - over €8.2 million - if we are to deliver our Disability lmplementation Plan.
- We developed new policies with accessibility in mind, including our Communication Strategy, a Permanent Works Accessibility Design Certificate, a Meeting and Training Facility Checklist, Provision of Information in Accessible Formats and Customer Care for People with Disabilities.
- Our work has been recognised nationally. We have influenced both the Sectoral Plan of the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government and a national Guidance Framework document of good practice for local authorities.
- Cavan County Council will lead the Cross-Border Disability Access lnitiative approved by INTERREG lVa. This aims to establish a cross border disability access partnership comprising councils, voluntary organisations, equality authorities and employers. The project aims to identify key barriers to access and agree a common approach to issues such as education, awareness raising and strengthening of legislation.
We have won several international and national awards for best practice in accessibility. Participation in accessibillty award schemes helps us to deliver excellence, as well as developing our expertise and introducing us to new access networks.
Awards are also great marketing tools. They allow the public to see what we are getting right, and help to build a positive image of our county.
