THE WIGAN AND LEIGH DISABILITY FORUM is an organisation run by a voluntary Management Committee and has existed in a variety of forms since 1997.
The Forum was established to give a voice to people with disABILITIES and to work in partnership with the Local Authority, Voluntary, Community and the Independent Sectors.
The Forum is one of the 8 Borough-wide networks that is supported from within the Community Empowerment Programme.
Members of the Forum come from all backgrounds and from all parts of the borough with a real interest in ensuring that people with disABILITIES are able to take an active part in local life.
The Forum’s aims include:
To operate a forum to discuss and respond to issues of concern to the disABILITY community.
To provide information and advice
To educate the public by raising the awareness in all matters relating to people with disABILITIES.
To work in partnership with other statutory, voluntary and community organisations
To ensure ideas, opinions and concerns are presented within both formal and informal settings
To Provide support and encouragement to people who have disABILITIES, their Carers and families
To Provide a platform for airing opinions, ideas and asking questions and obtaining answers to take action
Members of The Forum are closely associated with other disABILITY groups and organisations within Wigan Borough to improve the quality of life and the environment for disABLED people.
These include:
Wigan Council Adult Services
Wigan Area Access Committee
Direct Payments Support Group
Paveways (DisABILITY Advice Line)
Embrace Wigan & Leigh
Hard of Hearing Fellowship
Funding – Where the money comes from.
The Forum has received funding from different organisations in the past year. These include:
Ashton, Leigh & Wigan Primary Care Trust
Douglas Valley Community Ltd
Wigan Council (Adult Services)
Wigan Leisure Culture Trust
Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Coalition for Disabled People
Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh Primary Care Trust
Community Empowerment Programme (Wigan & Leigh CVS)
Most of the funding goes towards our Annual disABILITY Day awareness raising event that usually takes place in February or march each year. This years event was held on 5th March 2007 and was very successful and attracted well over 200 people.
The Forum is working with its members and other support agencies to develop its own website for the first time and is working to make sure it has secure funding beyond March 2008.
We are looking to recruit many more members, individuals and representatives of groups and organisations. We want to make sure that people who want to see a better quality of life for disABLED people work together, have a louder voice and are involved a lot more in decision making in the borough. We need your support to do this.
