The Virtual Scottish Rural Parliament
The Outside the Box team have been going to as many Scottish Rural Parliament sessions as we can. Every session has involved excellent discussions, with lots of ideas shared from different communities. Additionally, lots of contacts are being make and potential for joint working explored!
Advancing Equalities workshop
Here’s a short write up of the Advancing Equalities workshop we attended earlier this week.
It was chaired by Grace Cardozo, who led a brilliant session. She also brought interesting insights into LGBT work in Rural Dumfries and Galloway and wider inclusive community development Take a look at Sleeping Giants Community Development CIC‘s website for more on Dumfries and Galloway community learning.
Addressing marginalising dynamics and barriers
- Jess Smith taking about how the travellers’ community came to be marginalised and their history and contributions undermined. In discussion she talked about importance of meeting people and talking to them, and listening.
- Ian Buchanan from the Disability Equality Network talked about how poor transport is restricting disabled people’s participation. There are Access Panels which do excellent work, but access advice is often not taken up. It’s clear there’s a need for lots of partnership working to improve transport accessibility, and press for updating transport legislation.
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The third speaker was Scott Cuthbertson at Equality Network talking about people’s experiences in rural areas. Equality Network shared important research last year on the lived experiences of LGBT people in Scottish rural communities. You can read the Scottish LGBT Rural Equality Report here. The discussion looked at how to raise awareness among community members, with local trainings and community groups playing a role.
The role of community groups
The conversation on how community groups can promote inclusion has interesting links to our work. Our Queer Families project shared a lived experience-based LGBTQ+ inclusion guide for community organisations and services last year. The guides can be read online, or you can get in touch if you need paper copies for a community hub or local space!
Participation that supports equality
The event also touched on how we can support and value participation so a few people are not burned out. The importance of not mis-using people’s participative energy and labour was highlighted, and there was thoughtful discussion on making participation more inclusive. What this means is consultation on equality issues needs to be meaningful and ongoing – not one-off.
What’s on at the virtual Rural Parliament
Lots of thoughts to follow up on and explore! Thanks to everyone working on the (virtual) Scottish Rural Parliament for putting together such great sessions.
If you’re interested, the Scottish Rural Parliament 2021 is on until the 18th March. It’s all free, everyone’s welcome, and there are more great events coming up.
The session on ’20 minute neighbourhoods’ on the 18th looks very interesting for anyone interested in accessibility and local development. And we’re looking forward to speaking at the event on Social Care on 16th March. Hope to see you there!