DISABILITY IN THE WORKPLACE :
VALUING AND SUPPORTING STAFF
18 May 2010
Participating organisations – outline and contact details
We are delighted to welcome to the event a range of organisations who
have agreed to participate as speakers, workshop presenters or
standholders. Each contributes in their own way to supporting in the
workplace people who have a disability. You will have a chance to visit
the stands at the event over lunch so please take some time to do so.
In addition you can find further support or advice available from your
own employer through their human resources or personnel teams,
unions, employee assistance programme, or occupational health
teams.
This leaflet outlines for you the organisations which have contributed to
the event, what they offer and how you can contact them should you
wish to do so.
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Event speakers, workshop presenters and stand holders
Advocacy Highland
The aim of Advocacy Highland is to provide free and confidential
independent advocacy in Highland region for individuals of all ages,
including children, who need to be supported to speak up about specific
issues. This, whilst not exclusive, will focus on key priority groups
including those with mental ill health, learning disabilities, those on
autistic spectrum, people who have had strokes and those groups who
are frail and elderly and with due recognition of diverse and
marginalized groups.
Contact Details
Telephone - 01463 233460
E-mail - info@advocacy-highland.org.uk
Address - Advocacy Highland, 33 Academy St, Inverness, IV3 8NN
Anne Gent, Director of Human Resources, NHS Highland
Anne Gent is the Director of Human Resources for NHS Highland, a post
she was appointed to in April 2004. Anne has held a variety of Senior
Nursing and HR Posts since she moved to the Highlands 18 years ago.
Anne has a MBA from the Open University Business School and is a
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. As
Director of Human Resources, Anne provides the leadership role from
an employment perspective, for Equality and Diversity.
Autism Rights Group Highland (ARGH)
ARGH is a group run by and for autistic adults across Highland. ARGH
members are all people who have an Autistic spectrum condition. We
hold monthly meetings and have an online message board available to
full members. ARGH works to:
- inform service providers about what autistic people really experience.
- campaign for better services for autistic people in the highlands.
- challenge stigma and discrimination through education about autistic
strengths.
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Non- autistic associate members who support our aims are welcome to
join us.
Contact Details
Address – ARGH, 22 Wester Inshes Place, Inverness, V2 5HZ
E-mail - kb@arghighland.co.uk
Callum MacGregor
Callum MacGregor is head of employment services at the disability
organisation Capability Scotland and is also chair of Scottish Union of
Supported Employment (SUSE).
Contact Details
Main contact – Callum MacGregor
Telephone - 01383 720613
E-mail - Callum.macgregor@capability-scotland.org.uk
Capability Scotland
Capability Scotland’s Employment Services Team was set up to help
people develop the skills and confidence they need to find the kind of
work they would like and enables disabled people to work effectively in
a job by identifying their needs and providing the necessary support to
enable them to carry out their work.
We provide:
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Disability Specific Training
Reasonable Adjustment and Disability Discrimination Act Advice
General advice and information on employment
Work buddy/work coach if required
Personalised Development and Action Plan
Possible contribution to wages/salary
Access to £1000 recruitment fee (if eligible)
Contact Details
Main contact – Donna Petrie, Team Leader, Highlands, Islands and
Grampian
Telephone - 01463 258849
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Mobile – 07984 102618
E-mail - donna.petrie@capability-scotland.org.uk
Councillor Carolyn Wilson
Cllr Carolyn Wilson
Cllr Wilson is an elected member and is Chair of the Highland Council
Resources Committee. In this role she has an overview of the work and
performance of the Council’s Personnel and Employee Development
teams, and she is the Council’s spokesperson on Equal Opportunities.
She is also a local business woman and employer.
Contact Details
Email - use the link via the Highland Council website :www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/yourcouncillors/councillorscontactde
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Condition Management Team – Job Centre plus and NHS (Highland)
The Condition Management Programme (CMP) helps individuals
manage their health condition/disability. It is
 An innovative approach delivered jointly between Jobcentre Plus
and local NHS at 18 Alexander Place. Advisers and Practitioners
are working together.
 Designed to complement existing NHS services
 Does not provide treatment
CMP is aimed at helping individuals to:
 Better understand and manage their health condition/disability
 Improve their quality of life, regain control and realise their
aspirations
Return to work now or in the future. Goals of the programme are
“owned” by the individual participant.
Contact Details
Main contact – Lesley MacFadyen, Pathways to Work Adviser
Telephone - on Condition Management 01463 706753; for general
enquiries about Pathways to Work, Jobcentre Plus 01463 888133
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Deaf Services and Hearing Support team
We believe that deaf* people (*people who are Deaf, deafened,
Deafblind and hard of hearing) should have the same access to
information, services and respect as everyone else. We are working
towards a fairer society by promoting inclusion and equality for deaf*
people in Highland communities.
Anyone can ask us for advice : deaf* people themselves or their
families/friends, other services - like Audiology, other council services like OT or social work
We can offer
 Specialist equipment - such as flashing/vibrating doorbells, TV
listening aids, communication aids, pagers and so on….
 Resource centres – one in Inverness and one in Skye for people to
drop in for advice and to try out different pieces of equipment
 Social work with deaf* adults, children and families – from our
specialist social workers
 Support workers for deaf* people with additional needs to help
with things like - communicating with other people, getting out and
about, sorting out bills and letters, accessing other services, and so
on….
 Exciting holiday activities/outings for deaf* children and their
families and friends throughout the year
 British Sign Language (BSL) tuition for deaf* people and their
carers and supports
 A Deaf role model for Deaf children and their families
 BSL classes and Deaf Awareness courses for hearing people from
our award winning Deaf Communication Project (DCP)
 Support from DCP with accessing training for jobs for deaf* people
 Various and varied projects linked to deafness* from DCP
 Campaigning and advocating for the rights of deaf* people
 Information and advice about anything to do with deafness* for
individuals, families, professionals, agencies….
Contact Details
Main contact – Lynda Campbell, Hearing support Co-ordinator
Telephone – 01349 868711
Address - 4 Fodderty Way, Dingwall Business Park, Dingwall IV15 9XB
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Highland Diversity Awards
The awards celebrate the achievements of Highland businesses, social
enterprises and individuals in recognising the contribution all people
can make at work, often in challenging circumstances.
This includes supporting recruitment from non-traditional sources such
as male carers or female mechanics or engineers or reviewing working
practices to accommodate those who have different abilities, identities,
beliefs or social circumstances (e.g. caring responsibilities).
The individual award recognizes people who have personally overcome
significant barriers to find or stay in employment or those who have
helped others to do so.
The awards are held annually and presented at an awards dinner before
an invited audience in May.
Contact Details
Main contact – David Stewart, Highland Employer Coalition or Liz Scott,
Equalities MANAGER, Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Telephone – 01463 288351 or 01463 244206
E-mail – david.stewart@hiemco.co.uk or liz.scott@hient.co.uk
Highland User group (HUG)
HUG is a group of people who have experience of mental ill health. We
act as a voice for our members to comment on our lives, treatment and
the services we use. We campaign for social justice and equality for
people with mental health problems and try to raise awareness and
eradicate stigma and discrimination
Contact Details
Telephone - 01463 723557
E-mail – hug@hccf.org.uk
Address – HCCF, Highland House, 20 Longman Road, Inverness, IV1
1RY
Website – www.hug.uk.net
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Highlands and Islands Equality Forum
Morag Redwood, project leader of the Highlands & Islands Equality
Forum since January 2004, has built up a good knowledge of the
barriers faced by many marginalised groups in rural areas, and this has
provided the foundation for the development of a pan-Scotland Rural
Equality Network. HIEF regularly speaks on the subject of identity and
rural equalities to a variety of audiences including European ones.
A combination of equalities knowledge and extensive presentation and
facilitation skills supports HIEF’s work to bring together different
mandates to exchange knowledge and build capacity of agents within
local communities in training, seminars, workshops and conferences.
Use of interactive exercises in training sessions ensures that key
messages are shared in a fun way to help the wider community adopt
good equality & diversity strategy and practice.
HIEF's focus in 2010 is to continue to raise awareness of equality &
diversity issues amongst people in employment across all sectors in the
Highlands & Islands, and to support equality stakeholders - particularly
in the voluntary sector in rural areas - through the development of the
Scottish Rural Equality Network (SREN).
HIEF, whose lead partner is SCVO, receives funding from the European
Social Fund (ESF). UHI Millennium Institute, Highlands & Islands
Enterprise and Voluntary Action Highland are members of HIEF’s Project
Contact Details
Main contact – Morag Redwood, Project Leader
Telephone - 01463 251734
E-mail - hief@scvo.org.uk
Website - visit www.hief.org.uk or www.scvo.org.uk/srenoline
Highlands and Islands Social Enterprise Zone
The Highlands and Islands Social Enterprise Zone (HISEZ) is a social
enterprise support agency based in Inverness, covering the Highlands
and Islands from Argyll & Bute to Orkney & Shetland.
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HISEZ is ideally located to provide advice and guidance to social
enterprise organisations who are looking to expand and develop or for
aspiring organisations interested in exploring the social enterprise
option.
Contact Details
Main contact – Lindsay Dunbar
Telephone - 01463715533
E-mail - lindsay.dunbar@hisez.co.uk
Inverness Access Committee
Inverness Access committee promote inclusion of disabled people in
the community. It provides a conduit between disabled people and local
business. We take forward disabled people’s complaints to
business/LA, NHS etc., provide disability awareness advice and
sometimes training. Members provide advice to local authority
regarding projects e.g Inverness Streetscape. We are all volunteers and
are always looking for recruits.
Contact Details
Main contact – Deborah Mathieson (honorary secretary)
Address - c/o Shopmobility Level 2 Eastgate 2 car park, Inverness
Jobcentre Plus
Jobcentre Plus offers a range of programmes and services to help
jobseekers, unemployed people, people on incapacity benefits, those
with disabilities and others who may need extra help in finding and
retaining work.
The Jobcentre Plus stand at the “Disability in the Workplace” Event
provides details of this support and focuses on programmes which can
support people with disabilities who are in employment:
Access to Work – can help if your health condition or disability affects
the way you do your job. It gives you and the person you work for advice
and support with extra costs which may arise because of your health
needs.
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Workstep – This employment programme provides support to disabled
people facing complex barriers to getting and keeping a job. The
programme also offers practical assistance to employers.
Contact Details (Covering: Highlands, Moray, Grampian Northern and
Western Isles)
Main contacts – Fraser Mills, Disability Employment Adviser and
Margaret Saunders, Work Psychologist
Address - Jobcentre Plus, River House, Young Street, Inverness, IV3 5BP
Telephone – Fraser Mills 01463 888141 and Margaret Saunders
01463 888198
Textphone - 01463 888185
E-mail - fraser.mills@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk and
Margaret.Saunders@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
Karen Darke
Karen has the philosophy that to have the most impact in life we should
challenge our constraints, adopt a positive mindset and support each
other to be the best we can be.
Karen finds much of her inspiration through outdoor adventure. She
was a keen runner and mountaineer before becoming paralysed in a
rock-climbing accident, and has since pursued alternative ways to
access the outdoors – canoeing, sit-skiing and hand-cycling. She has
hand-cycled in various corners of the world, including Central Asia and
the Himalaya, the Karakoram and the length of the Japanese
archipelago. Karen has co-organised expeditions sea kayaking along
the coastlines of British Columbia and Alaska, skiing across the
Greenland icecap, climbing the kilometre-high vertical rock-face of El
Capitan, and kayaking through the fjords of Patagonia.
As a coach and facilitator, Karen runs her own business,
www.inspireandimpact.com. She is also an author and speaker, and
works regularly with young people, schools, businesses and other
organisations.
“What is life if it isn’t an adventure? I’m constantly amazed by what can
be achieved if we set our heart and mind to it. It’s all about finding
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belief, confidence, motivation and commitment. And of course, friends.
Then there are no limits.”
Contact Details
Main contact – Karen Darke
Telephone -07810 590244
E-mail - karen@inspireandimpact.com
Address - Flat 2, 71 Culduthel Road, Inverness, IV2 4HH, Scotland, UK
Website - www.inspireandimpact.com and www.karendarke.com
Kate Nash
Kate Nash OBE is a freelance diversity consultant. She has been a
human rights activist for more than 20 years. She’s kind of interesting
though in that she’s not a scary activist. In fact, her ability to persuade,
cajole and encourage change of hearts and minds can appear
imperceptible. Appear imperceptible! Make sense of that. But that is
what Kate does best – makes sense of seemingly scary and complex
ideas, as well as legislation, for organisations who want to recruit
diverse talent.
Kate is one of a handful of people that has the attention of the UK
business sector. Her work with the Employers’ Forum on Disability has
helped enable a rich and ongoing connection between employers and
disabled people
Contact Details
Main contact – Kate Nash Associates
Telephone - Tel: +44(0)7904 018 939
E-mail – kate@katenashassociates.com
Website - www.katenashassociates.com
Leonard Cheshire Disability
In-work Support for people facing barriers to employment
Leonard Cheshire Disability have been supporting people with a
disability that impacts on their ability to work, for over 10 years across
the Highlands, Islands, Grampian and Moray. We specialise in creating
individually designed support packages for employees who may be
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struggling to either obtain or sustain paid employment because of a
disability or health issue.
We are well experienced in supporting a wide and varied range of
disabilities, working in partnership with the individuals and their
employers, to ensure a quality of support that meets the needs of the
individual, and equally the business needs of the employer through
Government programmes such as Workstep and Access to Work
Contact Details
Main contact - John Sutherland, Delivery Manager, Innovative Projects,
Scotland,
Address – Leonard Cheshire Scotland, Unit 15, Elgin Business Centre,
Elgin, Moray,
IV30 1QP
Telephone / Vc. / Fax - 01343 569358
E-mail - john.sutherland@LCDisability.org
Linking Education and Disability (LEAD) Scotland
We offer services to disabled adults (aged 16+) and to carers who want
to learn. People learn in different ways and we believe that everyone
has a right to learn.
Services are free and confidential and we tailor our service to each
individual. We work with other agencies to find the best way of offering
you a service.
We could offer you:
 Educational guidance (meet a Learning Co-ordinator to discuss what,
how and when you want to learn, and discuss ways round barriers)
 Support to talk to learning providers about your specific requirements
 Practical, learning or email support from trained volunteers
 Access to our ICT home loan scheme
 Support to stay on a course
 Reviews to reflect on progress and any challenges on the way
 Support to exit Leads service into further learning, employment or
volunteering
Lead encourages people to become independent learners. We enable
people to find learning opportunities and the right support. We
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encourage people to move on from our service once they are
confidently linked into learning.
Contact Details
Telephone - 0131 228 9441
Address – Lead Scotland, Princes House, 5 Shandwick Place,
Edinburgh. EH2 4RG
E-mail - enquiries@lead.org.uk
Shirlie Project
The Shirlie Project was set up to cover the Highlands of Scotland in
1994 and since that time has been at the forefront of representing
people with support issues into paid employment.
We work with people on an individual basis exploring aspirations and
making contact with local employers to secure employment. We then
invest the time to provide support in the workplace, if necessary using
job coaching support.
We have made a real difference to hundreds of people since we opened
our doors.
Contact Details
Main contact – Jane MacDonald, Area Coordinator
Address – 40 Longman Drive, Inverness, IV1 1SU
Telephone – 01463 716179
E-mail – admin@shirlie.co.uk
Sight Action
Sight Action is a charity who works in the Highlands and Western Isles,
offering practical and emotional support to adults, carer’s, children and
their families who have a visual impairment or reduced vision.
They are contracted by Highland Council and NHS Highland to fulfil their
statutory obligations of providing assistance and support to people
living with sight loss. The services offered by Sight Action’s qualified
staff can help to reduce the day to day difficulties that many people
experience with sight loss. This may be help to safely carry on with daily
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living skills such as cooking, reading, getting out and about or with
access to employment.
They also carry out a wide range of non-statutory services not covered
by the statutory grants, through funding from Charitable Trusts and
from the Highland and Islands Society for Blind People fund raising
programme.
Contact Details
Main contact – Denise Clark
Telephone - 01463 233663
E-mail - admin@sightaction.org.uk
Address - Sight Action, 38 Ardconnel Street, Inverness, IV2 3EX
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Further support and advice – HR / personnel, unions, employee
assistance programmes, occupational health etc
Highland Council
Main contact (Equalities) – Rosemary MacKinnon (Equal Opportunities
Officer)
Telephone – 01463 702094
E-mail – rosemary.mackinnon@highland.gov.uk
Website – www.highland.gov.uk
Main contact – Kateryna Zoryk (Snr Personnel Adviser)
Telephone – 01463 702055
E-mail – kateryna.zoryk@highland.gov.uk
Website – www.highland.gov.uk
Unions
UNISON k.matthews@unison.co.uk
UNITE Richard.whyte@unitetheunion.com
UCATT aadmin@ucatt.org.uk
GMB bruce.crabtree@gmb.or.uk
Highland Employer Coalition
Main contact – David Stewart (Director)
Telephone – 01463 228351
E-mail – david.stewart@hiemco.org.uk
Website – www.employercoalitions.co.uk
Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Main contact (Equalities) – Liz Scott (Equalities Manager)
Telephone – 01463 244206
E-mail – liz.scott@hient.co.uk
Website – www.hie.co.uk
Main contact (HR) – Breige Toner (HR Business Partner)
Telephone – 01349 868929
E-mail – breige.toner@hient.co.uk
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Website – www.hie.co.uk
Main contact (Unions) – PCS Scotland
Telephone – 0131 5560407
Website – www.pcs.org.uk
JobCentre Plus
Main contact – Fraser Mills (Disability Employment Adviser)
Telephone – 01463 888141
E-mail – fraser.mills@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
Website – www.jobcentreplus.org.uk
NHS Highland
Main contact – Anna-Maria Kaczmarek (Policy Development Manager)
Telephone – 01463 704918
E-mail – anna-maria.kacamarek@nhs.net
Website – www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk
SNH
Main contact (Equalities) – Katie Eardley
Telephone - 01463725278
E-mail – Katie.eardley@snh.gov.uk
Main contact (HR) – Graeme Rose (HR Business Partner)
E-mail – Graeme.rose@snh.gov.uk
Website – www.snh.gov.uk
Recognised (Union) – THS
Main contact – Elaine Kay
Telephone - 01738 458639
E-mail – Elaine.Kay@snh.gov.uk
UHI Millennium Institute
Main contact (Equalities) – Isla Cruden (Compliance and equalities
officer)
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Telephone – 01463 279247
E-mail – Isla.cruden@uhi.ac.uk
Website – www.uhi.ac.uk
Main contact (HR) – Chris Sellers (Head of Personnel)
Telephone – 01463 279340
E-mail – Chris.sellers@uhi.ac.uk
Visit Scotland
Main contact (Equalities) – Chris McCoy (Head of Diversity & Equality)
Telephone – 0131 4722259
E-mail – Chris.McCoy@visitscotland.com
Website – www.visitscotland.com
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