Commitment to increasing Lived Experience within 4Sight Vision Support
Date: 16/05/2022
4Sight Vision Support, along with other Visionary members supporting blind and partially sighted people across the UK, recognise the particular value of lived experience of sight loss within our workforce and leadership teams but we know we need to do better. We are committed to increasing the number of visually impaired people employed within the sector, at all levels including senior management where possible.
Fair and equal access to employment and professional development opportunities are a crucial part of our shared vision for an equal society. We acknowledge that the change we want to see has to start within our own sector, we must take the lead to challenge and change the inequalities that exist.
We recognise that lived experience of sight loss has not always been perceived or used as an asset in our sector. This is reflected in employment numbers of blind and partially sighted people which are significantly lower than might be expected. Our ambition is to create and accelerate significant change. By increasing the number of people with sight loss employed in the sector, we will become better at what we do and become an exemplar for other sectors.
As a collective, we are committing to the following actions:
- We will attract more people to the sector by improving our recruitment processes, operational systems and working practices to ensure lived experience is recognised and highly valued.
- We will share our experiences, resources and good practice across the Visionary network to ensure all organisations have access to learning and development. Where possible, we can also feed into the creation of a cross-sector specialist portal for potential employees.
- We will ensure that people with lived experience have equal access to training and leadership opportunities within our organisation.
- We aim to track our progress annually.
Within 4Sight Vision Support, we commit to taking the following steps:
- Commit to developing existing staff with lived experience, through training and career development.
- Provide support through our ‘Living Well Service’ to identify routes into employment working with other community groups, programs and apprenticeships, and work experience and providing volunteering opportunities to develop skills.
- Provide meaningful feedback and support for blind and sight-impaired candidates who are not successful when applying for a role within 4SVS.
By committing to this, we hope to achieve our shared ambition of greater representation of lived experience within the sight loss sector.
If you have any further questions or would like to find out more about the services and support we provide, please get in touch with our friendly team on: 01243 828 555 or email enquiries@4sight.org.uk
