The William Keown Trust

Highlighting The Achievements And Promoting The Dignity Of People With Disabilities

October

Members of the Trust undertook inspections of a number of premises throughout Northern Ireland that were nominated for Access Awards.  The criteria agreed for an award is that: A building receives an award if its design exceeds the standard that are required under the statutory provision of the existing building regulations.  This will reflect in excellence of access, egress and circulation provisions in all aspects of the site”.

A meeting of Access and Education Committee took place to finalise the details of the Access Awards ceremony to be held in the Europa Hotel at the end of November.

Our “Countdown to DDA 2004” seminar took place  on 7^th October.  The Access and Education Committee, arranged for a number of top international experts in the field of inclusive design to meet and share their expertise with nearly a hundred delegates and Trust members at the Ramada Hotel in Belfast.  The seminar drew participants from district councils, Trusts, architects, occupational therapists, housing associations and other organisations.   

The American Experience of disability issues was presented by Andy Washburn from the Adaptive Environments Centre in Boston Massachusetts.  Andy, himself a wheelchair user is the Senior Information Specialist providing guidance and technical assistance to help implement the Americans With Disability Act.  As our Disability Discrimination Act was extensively modelled on the American ADA legislation it was interesting to learn from the experience of disability rights activist from across the Atlantic. 

From the English prospective Keith Bright, who is one of the specialist team who helped developed BS 8300: Code of Practice for the Design of Buildings and Approaches to Meet the Needs of Disabled People presented an informative and good-humoured account of how hopefully this standard may well eventually form a benchmark against which the rights of people with disabilities could be determined; how inclusive these standards are and how this British Standard will influence Building Regulations in the future?

In this the European Year of People With Disabilities, Ed Nolte from the Netherlands  outlined developments on the continent in relation to inclusive design. He addressed such matters as how equality of opportunity for people with disabilities will be promoted on an EU basis in relation to the built environment and the mechanisms that will assist with the promotion of good practice in member states

Bill Halliday from the Northern Ireland Equality Commission  updated us on how we are approaching full implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act, what the remaining challenges are and what action will be required to remedy them.

William Keown Trust members Gwen Kennedy who is visually impaired and wheelchair user Eric Lyons gave us valuable insights into the service users experience when using public buildings.

The seminar was extremely motivating and well received.  Full details and speaker’s notes can be found on our seminar link

The November edition of Trust Newsletter was finalised and sent to the publishers.  Contents included full coverage of the Personal Achievement Awards, the seminar and an in-depth report on the Trust’s website.

Members of the Trust travelled Ballymena to meet with the Strategic Planning and Commissioning Committee  of the Northern Health and Social Services Board.  This was an extremely successful conference – a PowerPoint presentation on our work of the Trust was delivered and the Trust video “Level Viewing” was also shown.  A successful application for funding was submitted to the Board.

Access audits were undertaken for two churches in the County Antrim area – as October 2004 draws closer we are finding that requests for appraisals are on the increase.  The Trust is encouraged that knowledge of our services is widespread throughout the community.

November

The Public Awareness Conference of the year was held in the offices of Cookstown District Council.  This was an extremely well attended meeting and we were delighted to welcome Cllr John McNamee, the Chairman of Cookstown District Council to open the event.  PAC Chairman Adrian Blythe gave a captivating synopsis on The Disability Discrimination Act and its impact for inclusivity.

The  Trust’s 2003 Prestige Access Awards were held  in  Belfast’s Europa Hotel.  The Trust, annually presents their Access Awards to people and places that promote easy access for people with disabilities – and of course what is convenient for people with disabilities is also beneficial for the elderly and for young families.  Together these three groups account for over 50% of the total population in Northern Ireland, so it makes sense that the designers of the built environment take this large demographic group into account.   To merit consideration for the unique recognition the overall architectural design provision of the building must exceed the existing required building standards.  The visiting inspection panels noted with commendation that a number of facilities in this year’s consideration went beyond the Trust’s high principles and requirements.

In the unavoidable absence of Mr Paraig O’Brien, chair of the Trust’s Access and Education Committee, Mr Philip Beattie, a member of the committee and a chief building control officer had a warm welcome for the awards recipients, their friends and guests who had been invited to the event which is unique in these islands.  Mr Beattie also extended a warm welcome to the Rt Rev Dr Ivan McKay, Moderator of the General Assembly  and Mrs McKay who had come along to present the valued awards with the assistance of Mrs Helen Currie, a director of the William Keown Trust.   The citations for the vast range of nineteen  award winning premises  which included a church, a golf club and an educational facility were announced in conjunction with a Powerpoint presentation on their facilities.  The Trust is a keen supporter of other charities and the directors were delighted to see a sister charity’s premises being recognised.  

The directors of the Trust were delighted to welcome to the ceremony Anne O’Reilly, who was undertaking her first public role since being appointed as Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Equality Commission.  Ms O’Reilly explained that the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland is an independent public body established under the Northern Ireland Act 1998. The Commission's general duties include: working towards the elimination of discrimination, promoting equality of opportunity, encouraging good practice, promoting affirmative / positive action, promoting good relations between people of different racial groups, overseeing the implementation and effectiveness of the statutory duty on public authorities and  keeping the relevant legislation under review. On 1 October 1999 the Equality Commission took over the functions previously exercised by the Commission for Racial Equality for Northern Ireland, the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland, the Fair Employment Commission and the Northern Ireland Disability Council.  Ms O’Reilly congratulated the Trust on its vital role in highlighting the need for an accessible environment in such a practical and proactive manner and praised the work of independent organisations in the field of disabilities.  

December

Press releases for the seminar and Access Awards were issued to over a hundred publications

  Copies of the Trust’s November edition of Newsletter was sent to councils, advertisers, contributors, health boards, associate members, award recipients, etc.  Our newsletter is also available to read over the Internet through our website, as are various other Trust publications including  our angling leaflets for people with disabilities, policy statements and church access booklets.