Access Plus: Spanning Identities

Author Unknown

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

The first conference aimed at addressing access issues for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people with disabilities was held at the Y.W.C.A. on Saturday 17th October. A total of 104 delegates attended the conference while some 400 others expressed interest in attending. Unfortunately the numbers attending were limited by the size of the venue.

The morning session featured talks from the conference facilitator and the keynote speaker, followed by the presentation of papers from five guest speakers. The afternoon session saw delegates divide into workshop groups to discuss the issues presented by the guest speakers. The workshops sought to identify objectives and outcomes to improve the rights of access for G.L.B.T. people with disabilities, with each workshop group presenting a series of recommendations to be acted on.

The five areas addressed were:

• Equitable access to social, cultural and political life, and disability and gay, lesbian and transgender services
• Domestic, sexual, institutional, homophobic and transgender violence.
• Images in the Media
• Living in institutions
• Identity politics.

A vast array of issue were raised which highlighted the serious disadvantage often facing disabled people who identify as G.L.B.T. One of the ones of great concern was the exclusion from both mainstream and queer communities of the disabled.

The conference was extremely well organised and everyone in attendance agreed that it had been a highly productive time. The organisers are to be congratulated on an extremely professionally run day and on their commitment to a fair go for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people with a disability. Well done and The Gender Centre looks forward to offering its support in the future.

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