Supporting disabled children, young people and their families: consultation

Introduction To The Consultation

This consultation focuses on the content and format of a public resource that will look to coordinate and drive improvement of the experiences of disabled children, young people, and their families across three pillars: rights and information, accessibility of support, and transitions.

Underpinned by a rights-based approach, we have worked with disabled children and young people, their families and practitioners, as well as third sector partners to design this resource. The consultation will be crucial for us to provide something that is both practical and useful but also ambitious and forward-looking.

Our Vision For The Resource

We aim to provide clear, accessible information on national policies, entitlements, rights and the different options for support available. The guides to policies, legislation and service provision will be interspersed with examples and real life case studies to showcase best practice.

In order to capture the complex nature of disability and the diverse range of people across Scotland who have a disability, this resource will not attempt to be an exhaustive list of condition-specific information or a directory of local services. We also recognise that transitions occur at different times for different people, so we have not applied a specific age limit and hope that it will act as an additional layer of support, both for families navigating the complexities of raising a disabled child and for young people looking forward to the next stages of their lives.

The format of this resource will be primarily digital, so that it is responsive to the real world, and updates can be made as necessary. The resource will be underpinned by a commitment to communicate the content in ways that are inclusive (easy to understand) and accessible, for example, in Easy Read. It is also important for children and young people to access as much of this information as they wish, therefore a version created specifically for them will be made available.