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The Camden community journalists making a better borough for all
The Camden community journalists making a better borough for all
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Camden Disability Action (CDA) is a user-led social enterprise striving for equality for Disabled people in the London borough of Camden. Through providing advice, support, training programmes and their new community journalism platform, they are amplifying Disabled people's voices to make a borough that works better for all.
At the heart of the venture's approach is the Social Model of Disability – the idea that people are disabled not by their impairment or difference, but by barriers that society creates.
CEO Colin Brummage explains ""Nobody needs to be disabled by the society in which they live.""
""Our main focus is the structural barriers in society, the social and environmental barriers, that are systemic to the way our communities are designed.""
In England, only 9% of homes have the key features needed to be considered accessible, such as a toilet at entrance-level or step-free access to the home (English Housing Survey 2018-19). Socially, prejudice creates a detrimental barrier to employment - 1 in 3 people see Disabled people as being less productive than non-Disabled people (Scope - Disability Perception Gap 2018), which contributes to Disabled people being almost twice as likely to be unemployed as non-Disabled people. (Labour Force Survey October to December 2020)
Camden Disability Action highlights the inequality barriers such as these create, and puts in place services, interventions and campaigns that can break them down.
Each initiative is co-produced, with Disabled people's voices at the centre of all decision making. With 75% of the Board of Trustees and 70% of the whole staff team identifying as Disabled, the organisation is an exception to many charities that are run for Disabled people, but led by non-Disabled people.
Last year Camden Disability Action introduced the CDA Leadership Programme – a course for Disabled people to unlock their strengths, leadership potential and power, and bring about positive change to Disabled people in Camden.
The programme was based in the Camden Centre for Independent Living, a building managed by Camden Disability Action which acts as a hub for independent living advice for Disabled people, training courses, and as a community space for hire. Since 2019, private room rental at the Centre provided a sustainable income, which funded services available to local Disabled people.
Impact of COVID-19
The situation changed entirely at start of the pandemic – Colin recalls the impact being initially ""catastrophic"". The social enterprise faced a complete loss of expected income, as they were no longer able to hire out room space. The impact of this was heightened by the increased demand for their support services, triggered not just by COVID-19 itself, but government policy and service provider responses. These at best overlooked the needs of Disabled people, and at worst diminished their legal rights.
In Camden and across the country, social distancing and altered road and street space meant that familiar local streetscapes became difficult to navigate. Rapid adjustments were made to public routes without consultation with local Disabled people, so many considerations were overlooked.
Led by and for Disabled people, Camden Disability Action was well-informed of the new challenges arising, and well placed to help communicate these issues to the local authority.
However, rather than using traditional methods, the social enterprise piloted a creative way of sharing these concerns.
Camden Disabled People's Voices
Made possible by emergency funding from the Social Enterprise Support Fund, Camden Disability Action was able to kickstart a community journalism initiative. Their grant brought On Our Radar on board -a communications consultancy specialising in connecting underrepresented communities with those in power.
The funding enabled Engagement Officer Tom McDonough to dedicate time to work with On Our Radar - together they designed a platform for hosting news reports direct from Disabled people in the local community. They have also provided training and mentoring in community journalism, so that all authors are equipped with the storytelling skills they need to report on important issues.
The online platform, named Camden Disabled People's Voices, presents audio clips, photography and written first-person accounts. For the first time, instead of waiting for a forum or tired survey to come round, people can share their experiences immediately.
On the site, Anna Alston shares her success at making her local pub accessible to wheelchair users - setting the bar for other local venues, and putting her skills from the CDA Leadership Programme into practice.
Camden Disabled People's Voices is already becoming a critical source of qualitative data which can be used to influence service-providers' decisions in Camden:
Sarah's article Swimming against the tide – Sarah's battle to use her local pools makes known the lack of inclusive attitudes at Camden leisure centres. With Sarah's findings, charity Citizens Advice have been able to follow up her concerns with the leisure centres, and make sure that action is taken.
Colin describes the significance of the platform ""The most important role of a Disabled People's Organisation (DPO) like ours is to uncover oppression; to understand how discrimination, prejudice and stigma play out in Disabled people's lives. It's really difficult to get that data, bring it into the light and say it needs to change.""
""This digital platform gives us the most effective means to get that information and to be a real effective user-led DPO. It's been utterly transformational and puts us as a sector leader.""
Impressively, the platform received five and a half thousand visitors in the first two months. Colin and Tom are keen to continue its success and further grow the audience - training more community journalists and working with On Our Radar to ensure the site is as accessible as possible.
Explore the Camden Disabled People's Voices platform.
The Social Enterprise Support Fund re-opens for applications on Monday 28th February 2022, closing on Thursday 24th March 2022 . To find out more, visit socialenterprisesupportfund.org.uk .