Become an Advocate

Self & Group Advocacy is about taking control of decisions about yourself and telling others what you want.

Equality Together hosts several User Groups and Forums. You can come to these groups and meet other people who also want their voice to be heard. You might feel nervous or uncertain at first and want to get to know the group before you speak up. That’s fine – we’re here to help you feel comfortable.

The User Groups and Forums talk about a lot of different things. There is normally a topic for each meeting. Some might affect you and others might not. They may be supported by member of Equality Together staff or run themselves. The people there will discuss the topic and use their experience to share opinions, discuss issues, and suggest solutions. Here’s an overview of some of the groups you can take part in:

The Bradford and District Disabled Peoples Forum decided in 2021 to rebrand itself to The Disabled Peoples Action Group (DPAG) following widespread consultation with disability groups.

DPAG continues to have a close relationship with Equality Together

The group have a dedicated steering group which has meets regularly and includes representation from people representing the widest definition of disability including physical disability, mental health, learning disability, sensory impairment and long-term life limiting conditions. The forum now includes other groups.

The Disabled Peoples Action Group Values are: –

• To seek to ensure that disabled people are represented on a wide range of strategic, ‘decision making’ bodies across the district.
• To ensure that disabled people who are ‘experts by personal experience’ are able to have a say in the development of services.
• To create a district where all disabled people can participate fully as equal citizens.
• To publicise the Forum and establish accessible ways of communicating, including a website, that will allow groups to share and exchange information and ideas.

The groups we support can and do change lives. In 2014 The Bradford Association of Visually Impaired People (BAVIP) started a campaign to get A boards banned from high streets in Bradford.

Oftentimes A-boards are seen as little more than an ‘eyesore’ by members of the public, however to a visually impaired person they can result in injury and in some cases, unfortunately even death.

Members of BAVIP visited areas across the district to highlight hazardous A-Boards, taking photographs as evidence and to document their journey. They hosted forums, campaigned to council and were in local publications to highlight the issue.

In November 2017 the campaign came to a positive conclusion as A-Boards were banned across our city.

The programme operated in partnership with Bradford People First and Bradford Talking Media is to recruit, develop, support and sustain a dedicated pool of skilled voice advocates, each with their own unique lived experience, who in turn will represent and provide a positive and balanced view/opinion on issues, developments, and opportunities plus needed challenge and quality assurance working with partners and stakeholders across all sectors.

The programme will work within and link into the strategic and operational framework of The Co-production Partnership via thematic working groups, People Panels and Jury’s and various departments within Adult Social Care.

If you’d like to learn more, please visit out Self & Group Advocacy and Voice Advocates page.

We believe in the social model of disability, whereby you are not disabled by your disability of health condition, but by the barriers in society.

We work with people to ensure they have choice and control over the services they use and need, contributing to their improved health and wellbeing.

We will campaign around issues that are important to disabled people, carers, families and other people who face discrimination and disadvantage, to achieve change.