Access for Black and minority ethnic Children and young people with Disabilities and or chronic illnesses

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ABCD Cymru Consultancy

ABCD Cymru have worked with BME disabled communities and their families for more than 15 years. In this time we have built a wealth of expertise in this area on how to communicate and engage effectively with this community. We assist professionals working in this area to acquire the skills and knowledge required to work confidently with this group, and disseminate information on good practice. Consultancy is provided for agencies working the BME disabled children and their families. We provide this for statutory and voluntary organisations, and it can be over-the-phone to look at an individual issue, or it can be joint work with a particular child or family, or simply advice on how to link in with BME groups.

We regularly accompany workers on joint home visits and ABCD Cymru’s bi-lingual workers are happy to utilise their language skills. ABCD Cymru also provide policy makers and commissioners of services with local demographic information from the data we hold on our Register. ABCD Cymru offer a mechanism for consulting with the family carers of BME disabled children and young people. They are often referred to as a ‘hard to reach’ group, and therefore difficult to engage. We have worked with the Welsh Assembly Government and Cardiff Council, among others, to help facilitate such meetings. An example is when ABCD Cymru arranged a focus group on behalf of Cardiff Council, who were consulting on their Family Support Strategy. Jayne Isaac, who undertook the consultations on behalf of Cardiff Council stated: "ABCD Cymru facilitated an extremely valuable consultation with BME parents of disabled children. The consultation raised issues about information, language, culture and religion. The consultation influenced the strategy on these issues".