Dear Members of the Disability Action Alliance
Welcome to our special International Day of Disabled People edition of the Disability Action Alliance Newsletter.
The International Day of Disabled People is held annually on 3rd
December , this year’s theme for the day is;
Check out our web page that showcases member events etc. To date we have 17 stories; varying from a Blackpool soul band to a disco, to free membership. Intrigued? Please see the following link for more information
International Day of Disabled People 2013
The Minister of State for Disabled People Mike Penning also makes a statement about International Day; and the Alliance is mentioned! To read the press release see ODI website
If you’re interested in the history of International Day, check out the UN website here .
New Money Advice Service online resource for people who develop a health condition or become disabled
We are really pleased to announce another successful outcome for the
Disability Action Alliance. Today, on International Day for Disabled People,
Money Advice Service launches a new online resource dedicated to supporting people who develop a health condition or become disabled, to have better and joined up financial advice and information. The Money
Advice Service is an Alliance member and they have worked with other members to develop this brand new section on its website.
The new section can be found at the Money Advice Service website and their press notice gives more information. We would like your thoughts on the website, you can send these directly to the Money Advice Service enquiries@moneyadviceservice.org.uk
or to the Disability Action Alliance
Secretariat contact us page.

Good News Stories to Share
In addition to the stories of what organisations are doing on International
Day, we have also been sent the following two Good News Stories.
 First Bus Unveils Partnership with Guide Dogs for the Blind to
Improve Customer Service - Disability Action Alliance member First
Bus has become the first company in the bus industry to provide its drivers with specific training designed to help people who are blind or partially sighted to confidently use the bus. For more information, please visit the First Group website
 The Discovery Festival came to Chelmsford Chelmsford City
Council and Alliance member Essex Coalition for Disabled People
(ECDP) joined up to host their Discovery Festival in recognition of the
International Day of Disabled People. From Monday 25 November to
Saturday 30 November, Chelmsford became a colourful centre of performances, art and events. There were dance performances, singers, and the Mayor of Chelmsford Trevor Miller joined the celebrations. For more information go to www.ecdp.org.uk/discovery .
You can read about these stories in more detail on the website - Good
News Stories to Share . And if you would like further information you can either contact the organisations directly or we can help you make contact.
We are always on the look out for more stories to feature so please let us know if you have anything you’d like to share that you think other Members of the Alliance may be interested in.
Members
We now have 216 members! Since the last newsletter in October the following organisations have joined;
121 Captions
Action Deafness
Arty-Folks
Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS)
British Bankers Association
Christian Disability Action Network
Confederation of Passenger Transport UK
Disability Backup
Disability Information Zone
Dwarf Sports Association

Enrico Charles Humanitarian Organisation Ltd
Fujitsu UK
ICANN
Independent Living Alternatives
Join-Us Youth Projects
Kent County Council
Kent Police
Movement for Hope
Moving On With Life & Learning (MOWLL)
Pardon Group
Remploy
Shaping Our Lives
Signature
Social Information on Disability
Social Firms UK
Stay Safe East
The Bike Experience
UK Council on Deafness
UK Deaf Sport
West Berkshire Council
The full list can be found on the website - Alliance Members . We have added links through to organisations’ websites to help you find out more about them and/or make contact if you want to.
Please do promote the Alliance to any organisation who you think would be interested and/or let us know so we can invite them to join.
To help you we have produced a booklet, this can be found on our website
Aide Memoir .
Alliance Projects
We are continuing to see progress on projects. For this newsletter we include a specific update on a new project.
Inclusive Community Project
Disability Rights UK, with the Local Government Association, is developing a new project on inclusive communities.
We are first looking at evidence – what do we mean by an inclusive community, what do we know of the best examples, what are the levers to

make it happen, what can we learn from disabled people’s campaigns and from other equalities fields.
We are focusing on the right to participate in communities - in practice; on independent living; and on how communities foster everyone’s participation.
We are learning from good practice under the Public Sector Equality Duty, from Disabled People’s Organisations and international practice.
We are seeking examples of inclusive communities in action: if there is interesting work going on in your area, or you know of good practice, please let us know - contact liz.sayce@disabilityrightsuk.org
.
Other News
Aspire2
The second edition of the online magazine Aspire2 has been published today. The magazine aims to get more young disabled people engaged with disability issues. The magazine can be found on the Office for
Disability Issues website .
The Alliance on Twitter - @DisActAll
By now most of you will be aware that there is a Disability Action Alliance presence on Twitter. We follow all Alliance members that have a Twitter account and are happy to re-tweet things you think might be of interest to other Members so please let us know. There will be lots of tweets and retweets for International Day.
Contact Us

There is a ‘Contact us’ link on the Alliance website

You can also email us on fulfilling.potential@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
 And don’t forget to follow us on twitter @DisActAll
And as this will be the last edition before the New Year, we would like to send all our members good wishes for the festive season.