Reduced Mobility . Hearing Impairment . Sight Impairment . Mental Illness . Learning Difficulty . Long Term Illness
The Guernsey Disability Alliance was formed in 2008. Our membership includes representatives from over 30 local disability charities, plus individual disabled people. We have joined forces to speak with one voice about the issues disabled islanders have in common. Our mission is equality for all islanders.
Activities of the GDA include:
- sharing information and experiences amongst disabled islanders
- building links between local disability charities
- researching and broadcasting information about the services available to disabled islanders, both from the States and other organisations
- responding to States consultations on behalf of disabled islanders
- campaigning for appropriate support for disabled islanders and their families
For the latest news about the activities of the GDA, read our News Blog.
Join the Guernsey Disability Alliance.
Help drive the agenda.
GDA membership is free and is open to:
- individual disabled people
- voluntary organisations that support disabled people
- health and social care professionals.
You are very welcome to use this website or sign up for our newsletter without becoming an actual member of the GDA. But if you would like to get the news relevant to disabled islanders as it happens or become more directly involved in campaigning for equality for disabled islanders, just contact Shelaine Green, GDA Chair on 07781 467316 or email her from the Contact Us page.
Shelaine will add you to the GDA email list and keep you up to date. She will also send you the agenda for upcoming GDA meetings which are held on a Wednesday evening at the Ron Short Centre at 7pm.
The GDA meeting schedule for 2012 is: Feb 1st, Mar 7th, Apr 4th, 2nd May (AGM), 6th June, 4th July, 5th Sept, 3rd Oct, 7th Nov, 5th Dec.
Meet the GDA.
Our committee members.
Elected Officers
- Executive Chair – Shelaine Green (ex-Chair of Headway Guernsey)
- Treasurer – Gary Denoual (Individual member)
- Secretary – Terry Moore (Volunteer)
- Non-Executive Chair – Rob Platts (ex-Chair of Guernsey Multiple Sclerosis Society)
Co-optees
- Jenny Hooper (ex-Chair of Wigwam Support Group)
- Simon de la Mare (Individual member)
- Emily Litten (Senior Advocacy Liaison Officer for Guernsey Mind)
- Helen Hollingsworth (Individual member)
- Graham Hollingsworth (Individual member)
- Richard Cochrane (Individual member)
Making Guernsey more accessible.
Our approach.
Difficulty getting around the island and into local buildings is just one of the barriers that disabled people face in Guernsey but it is probably the first one that most people think of. Drawing on our experiences of working on various projects to improve access in Guernsey, GDA members have an agreed Access Policy which guides our approach:
- Access for all – To strive for access for ALL.
- Reasonable solutions with respect – To find solutions for access whilst respecting the islands heritage, beauty and charm.
- Negotiate not dictate – Build strong long term relationships with the States, the business community and the public, adapting and adjusting our approach as necessary.
- Speak with one voice – Present a unified approach empowering and supporting GDA members when addressing issues that affect all.
- Positive presentation – Use the media to highlight success stories or as a last resort when all other negotiation routes have failed.
- Prioritise – Concentrate on what’s important and make it happen.
To access these guidelines in “Easy-Read” format, click here.
Helen and Graham Hollingsworth are the GDA’s Access Team. If you would like to discuss a project to improve access in Guernsey, you can reach the team through the Contact Us page.
History of the GDA.
Our story so far.
Late in 2007, Rob Platts, then Chair of the Guernsey MS Society, went to a meeting to discuss the sharing of information between disabled islanders. The initiative was instigated and hosted by Roger Bowns, the much-loved Channel TV presenter, now sadly no longer with us. Roger was a disabled person himself in his later years and was frustrated by the effort required to find out about goods and services that would be help him maintain his independence.
At the meeting, Maria Gregory Haines from HSSD explained that the States was keen to set up a Disability Forum to bring together disabled islanders, States departments, healthcare professionals and voluntary organisations. She asked Rob if he would represent the voluntary organisations on the Forum.
With the assistance of Wendy Beaven from the Health Information Exchange, Rob called a meeting of all the charities involved with disabled islanders and thus began the “Voluntary Organisations Group of the Disability Forum”. However, once the charities started meeting regularly they found that they had many issues in common regardless of the different impairments of the people they supported – housing, employment, respite, equipment, benefits, transport, access… The group developed an energy and a sense of purpose way beyond simply contributing to the Forum, and began attracting individual disabled people, as well as a wide range of charity representatives, including the island’s mental health charities. Late in 2008 the group renamed itself the “Guernsey Disability Alliance”.
Rob Platts had always made clear that he would only be in the island long enough to get the GDA off the ground and guide it it in its important formative year. In April 2009, Shelaine Green, then Chair of Headway Guernsey, was elected as the new Chair of the Guernsey Disability Alliance and she had lead the organisation ever since. Rob remains the group’s Non-Executive Chair and is never more than an email away.
Rob, Shelaine and everyone involved with the GDA owe much to the wisdom and experience of the GDA’s founding Vice-Chair, Dave Purdy. Dave led the Guernsey Association of Disabled People through the late 1980s and 1990s.