About Us

We are a small but active organisation.  Our members are mostly people with personal experience of living with a disability, either our own, or that of others close to us.  We welcome anyone with an active interest in our aims - improving access to premises and services and raising awareness of the needs of disabled people.

There are two types of membership:

General Supporter: You may decide to become a member simply as a sign of solidarity; to show that you support the aims of the group and that you might be willing to take part in some of the group’s activities from time to time e.g. returning questionnaires if the group holds a consultation exercise/or providing personal testimony based on your particular disability or area of interest/ or recommending a facility or venue in any inclusion guide. With this level of membership there is no obligation on you or your group to become active participants in RACDAG if you do not feel you can commit the time.

Active Volunteer: Alternatively however, you may wish to get more involved in the Group’s day to day work, whether this is through taking part in the Management Committee or any Sub Groups that are established or by doing a specific piece of work for the group e.g. organising a special event; participating in developing access guides to communities in our area; involvement in Access surveys; or providing your professional services to the Group on a voluntary basis.

There is no charge for membership.  Anyone expressing interest in joining will be contacted by a member of the committee who will explain more about the work of our organisation and the ways in which you could help.  So as to be able to find the roles and tasks most suited to you you’ll also be asked about your own interests and experience, as well as  the support you might need in order to take part,  eg, training for particular activities, the opportunity to work with a more experienced ‘buddy’, information in alternative formats etc.  We are often able to provide transport.

We meet on a regular basis, alternating our meetings between West coast and East coast venues.  As part of our ongoing development as individuals and as a group we often have an invited speaker with a view to increasing knowledge and understanding relevant to our work.

In addition we work through sub groups which are created from time to time according to current work, eg, to comment on planning applications, to develop a particular project, for making funding applications, to work on a specific local access issue.

At our AGM we elect a committee which meets throughout the year according to need.

The work we do may be initiated by, for example, a request for help from a local community centre or business who would like to improve access to their premises, or by a member of the public bringing an access barrier to our attention or by Highland Council who involve us when they are making access adjustments to their buildings. The basis of our knowledge is life experience of disability, an overview of a range of different disabilities gained from each other and varying levels of training in access legislation and good practice.

There are about 50 Access Panels/Access Groups in Scotland, 8 of them in Highland.   The Scottish Government supports this network through our umbrella organisation the Scottish Disability Equality Forum.  In Highland, Access Panels have a small amount of financial support from Highland Council.