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Invite in someone to talk about disability

Learn more about disabilities by inviting a member of a charity organisation to chat with your group.

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You’ll need

  • Pens or pencils
  • A4 paper

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help. 

Planning and setting up this activity

  • Contact a local disability charity and ask if they’ve any speakers or members of their community who’d be happy to visit your regular meeting place. If it’s not possible, you could arrange to visit them somewhere more suitable for them. 
  • You should plan your meeting around how much time your guest has and any activities they may like to run. If your guest can only come for half the meeting, you could spend the other half of the session doing another activity. You could share the Beavers Disability Awareness or Cubs Disability Awareness badge requirements if you want them to cover specific topics.
  • Prepare for the visit by setting out the space as needed and getting everything ready, including anything your visitor may need.
  • If your visitor may bring animals, such as Guide Dogs, always check for any allergies or fears. This may also include any food allergies for treats, such as treats including peanut butter.
  • All adults involved, including external suppliers and visitors, must have seen and understood the Yellow Card.
  • If anyone in the group has lived experience of disability, they could share their story if they feel comfortable to. It’s important that no one’s made to share anything they don’t want to, and no one should talk about someone else’s disability unless that person says it’s okay. 
  • Find out more about young carers and disability inclusion in Scouts.

At Scouts, we follow the social model of disability. The social model of disability is a way of viewing the world, developed by disabled people. The model says that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. Barriers can be physical, such as buildings not having accessible toilets or not having access to an BSL interpreter. Or they can be caused by people's attitudes to difference, such as people assuming disabled people can't do certain things. 

The social model helps us recognise barriers that make life harder for disabled people. Removing these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control. 

You can find out more about the social model of disability on Scope's website. 

Remember, although we'll use certain wording, in-line with the social model, it'll vary from person to person on how people view or describe their own disabilities. It's important to take the person's lead, and use the words that they use if you're having a conversation about disability.

Here’s a list of well-known UK-based disability charities that you could consider inviting a speaker from.

Scope

  • Focus: Disability equality, supporting people with cerebral palsy and other physical disabilities.
  • Website: www.scope.org.uk

The National Autistic Society (NAS)

  • Focus: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), promoting understanding and support for people on the autism spectrum.
  • Website: www.autism.org.uk

Mencap

  • Focus: Learning disabilities, supporting people with intellectual disabilities and promoting inclusion.
  • Website: www.mencap.org.uk

Disability Rights UK

  • Focus: Advocacy and support for people with a range of disabilities, focusing on their rights and access to services.
  • Website: www.disabilityrightsuk.org

RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People)

  • Focus: Vision impairment, providing support and campaigning for the rights of blind and partially sighted people.
  • Website: www.rnib.org.uk

Disability Action

  • Focus: Supporting people with all types of disabilities in Northern Ireland, promoting equality and inclusion.
  • Website: www.disabilityaction.org

Leonard Cheshire

  • Focus: A wide range of disabilities, with a focus on supporting disabled people to live, work, and contribute fully to society.
  • Website: www.leonardcheshire.org

The Spinal Injuries Association (SIA)

  •  Focus: Supporting people with spinal cord injuries and helping them to live independent lives.
  •  Website: www.spinal.co.uk

Headway - the brain injury association

  • Focus: Providing support for people affected by brain injuries and advocating for their rights and needs.
  • Website: www.headway.org.uk

Whizz-Kidz

  • Focus: Supporting disabled children and young people with mobility needs to help them achieve their potential.
  • Website: www.whizz-kidz.org.uk

United Response

  •  Focus: People with learning disabilities, mental health needs, and physical disabilities, aiming for inclusion and empowerment.
  • Website: www.unitedresponse.org.uk

Mind (mental health charity)

  • Focus: Mental health, offering support to people with mental health conditions and advocating for their rights.
  • Website: www.mind.org.uk

Sense

  • Focus: Supporting people with complex disabilities, including those who are deafblind, offering practical help and advocacy.
  • Website: www.sense.org.uk

Guide Dogs

  • Focus: Supporting people with sight loss by providing guide dogs, mobility services, and resources to help them live independently. They also have a speaker service. 
  • Website: www.guidedogs.co.uk

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS)

  • Focus:  Giving expert support on childhood deafness, and raising awareness and campaigning for deaf children’s rights.
  • Website: www.ndcs.org.uk 

Assistance Dogs UK

  • Focus: Teaching people about assistance dogs and the rights of the people who depend on them. 
  • Website: www.assistancedogs.org.uk

Hidden Disabilities Sunflower

  • Focus: Encouraging inclusivity, acceptance and understanding, for people with non-visible disabilities. 
  • Website: hdsunflower.com/uk/ 

 

Running this activity

  1. Gather everyone together and explain that you’ve a visitor. You or the guest could introduce them and where they’re from. You can remind everyone of what good listening looks like—such as looking at the speaker, being quiet, and showing respect.
  2. Let your guest talk about what they do and their connection to the charity. They may work or volunteer for the charity, or they may be a user or be supported it. They could share presentation if they have one. Encourage the speaker to explain what they do, their personal story, or the work their organization does to support disabled people.
  3. Ask everyone to think of some questions they’d like to ask the guest. They may wish to write them down.
  4. When everyone’s ready, invite anyone who wants to ask a question to do so. You or the speaker could let them know that all questions are welcome—whether they’re curious, thoughtful or confused about things they might not yet understand.
  5. Give your guest a chance to ask any questions they might have for the group. It’s a great opportunity for them to connect with the group and engage with everyone.
  6. Remember to thank the guest before the end of the session. It’s important to show appreciation for their time and the insights they shared, and let the group know how much they’ve learned from the speaker.
  7. If you wanted to, you could plan to support the charity that they guest may be from or representing, such as planning a fundraising event or fundraising challenge.

Reflection

This activity was all about listening to our speaker. Hearing from someone who works with or is supported by a charity helps us see how important their work is and how we can help others. Take a moment to think about what you enjoyed about their visit. What did you about what enjoy most about their visit - was there something surprising, inspiring, or new that you learned? What was the most interesting part of their job or story, and why? Did hearing their story make you think differently about how you can support disabled people in our community or the challenges they may face? 

It’s also important to reflect on how we can show kindness and respect to disabled people in our community. Listening carefully to their story helps us understand how we can help. What can we do to be respectful and helpful to disabled people in our communities? If you invited in a charity, what ideas do you have for supporting the charity or raising awareness about their work? You could plan an event or fundraiser to make a difference.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

Visits away from your meeting place

Complete a thorough risk assessment and include hazards, such as roads, woodland, plants, animals, and bodies of water (for example, rivers, ponds, lakes, and seas). You’ll probably need more adult helpers than usual. Your risk assessment should include how many adults you need. The young people to adult ratios are a minimum requirement. When you do your risk assessment, you might decide that you need more adults than the ratio specifies. Think about extra equipment that you may need to take with you, such as high visibility clothing, a first aid kit, water, and waterproofs. Throughout the activity, watch out for changes in the weather and do regular headcounts. 

  • Some people find sitting still or staying silent for a length of time difficult. They may like to use something, such as fidget toys, colouring in, weighted blankets or wobble cushions, to help them. You could offer movement breaks into your activities or provide a supervised space for people to move around safely.
  • People should only be asked to speak or ask questions in front of group if they feel happy and comfortable doing so, and that’s OK. Someone could also ask questions on behalf of a group or an individual.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Beavers Disability Awareness Activity Badge

Young people could think of ways to help support the charity. You could collect donations, fundraise or do something to make a difference, such as paint fences or plant flowers to decorate the venue.