Government have announced further disability awareness training opportunities that form part of the Ministry of Equality’s ‘Equality Means Business’ series of awareness seminars. Paul Hawkins, from the UK charity Attitude is Everything, has once again been invited to deliver bespoke training to both the public and the private sector.
This forms part of the Ministry’s initiative and drive to raise awareness and promote inclusion of individuals with disabilities in our community.
The Disability Bill 2017, which will shortly be taken before Parliament, imposes significant obligations on everyone to work proactively towards the improvement of the quality of life of people with disabilities. The underlying objective is to promote the inclusion and participation of people with disabilities in the community as well as to promote their equality of opportunity and independence.
This training is aimed at frontline staff who are in direct contact with members of the public and would like to be made aware of how to assist potential customers who happen to have a disability. The training will consist of the following:
• Looking at what having a disability entails
• Discussing the social model of disability
• Looking at case studies and giving guidance and best practice solutions
• Language and terminology
Training for the private sector will be held at the Gibraltar University on Thursday 25th May from 10:30am. The training is envisaged to last around two and a half hours. Space on this course will be limited and anyone interested is advised to contact the Ministry of Equality on telephone: 200 70112 or e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to secure a space.
The Minister for Equality, the Hon Samantha Sacramento MP, said: “This Government is pleased to offer further training opportunities on disability awareness for the private sector as well as the public sector. Not only is inclusion the right thing to do morally and legally, it also makes good business sense. It has now been four years since we started offering training in disability awareness and we are already beginning to see a significant change in many people’s attitudes to disability. Nevertheless, we cannot become complacent and so further training programmes will be announced throughout this year to complement the training we have provided so far.”
