Call for your experience to help us make the city more accessible

We’re inviting people with lived experience of disability from diverse backgrounds to help us develop Brighton & Hove’s new ‘Accessible City Strategy’.

This is a vital and much-needed piece of work, which seeks to put accessibility at the heart of how the council designs and delivers services.

Councillor Steph Powell, co-chair of the Tourism, Equalities, Communities & Culture committee said: “There has been a lot of progress on improving accessibility in and around the city over the past years but we’re very aware it’s not everywhere.

“Our aim for the Accessible City Strategy is to bring all this together and identify where work still needs to be done to make the city more accessible for all residents and visitors.

“The expertise and experience of disabled people are vital to making this work, and we’re setting up these groups to make sure the focus is where is where it needs to be.

“If you’re passionate about disability inclusion and helping to make Brighton & Hove work for everyone, we’d love to hear from you.”

We are particularly keen to gain intersectional perspectives from the lived experience of disabled people from Black and minority ethnic and LGBTQIA+ groups, and other marginalised communities.

Get involved in the Disability Panel

The aim of the Disability Panel will be to provide strategic, expert and impartial advice to the council on developing, implementing, monitoring and reviewing the Accessible City Strategy and the resulting action plans.

We're looking for individuals with lived experience of disability to sit alongside representatives from disability organisations on the panel.

Meetings will take place 4 times a year and all members will be paid for their involvement.  

Please do get in touch if you:

• Have lived experience of disability whether personally or through a caring and support role
• Have relevant skills or experience in being part of a committee or advisory panel
• Live, work or study in the Brighton & Hove area
• Have knowledge, experience or an interest in providing independent and strategic advice on disability access and inclusion issues

The Wider Reference Group

We are also establishing a Wider Reference Group (WRG) is to provide a safe, inclusive space for local disability peoples groups and organisations to give their views and take part in discussions on how the city and council services can become more accessible.

The group will provide critical input and feedback to the Disability Panel and share your experiences of barriers and your ideas for solutions

The WRG is a membership group open to disabled people’s organisations that support and empower disabled residents of Brighton & Hove, ideally with lived experience of disability themselves.

There will be 4 optional meetings a year, which can be joined online, and members can also get involved through taking surveys.

All members will be paid for meetings and taking part in the surveys.

Want to find out more?

If you’re interested in joining either group, please email EDI.Officer-Disability@brighton-hove.gov.uk or call 01273 291952 and leave a voice message to request terms of reference and a short expression of interest form, or if you have any other questions. Please get in touch by 31 August.

You can use the same contact details if you have any questions or need information in another format, including Easy Read or BSL.

Brighton & Hove City Council is registered with signlive.co.uk, and British Sign Language (BSL) users can use the service to make a video call via a BSL interpreter and leave a message on the number above.

There will also be further opportunities for people with lived experience of disability to have their say on making the city more accessible as proposals develop.