Case Studies

Participation and involvement: listening to those with direct experience

We believe that change is best informed and driven by the people who have direct experience.

Over the year Inspiring Scotland has been supporting best practice in the development of services and programmes that are directed by individuals and where people have a respected and equal voice in decisions that affect them.  This can include  choices about care, health services and employment opportunities.

We have worked directly with autistic people through Inspiring Scotland’s Autism Advisory Forum and supported the development of the Scottish Government’s Leadership Framework.   This aims to make sure policy is driven by people with learning disabilities and autistic people and uses evidence-based participation and engagement approaches.

The Autism Advisory Forum was established in 2019 to ensure that autistic people’s lived experience underpins all aspects of the Increasing Understanding of Autism Programme. Membership has steadily increased with the representation of diverse groups of autistic people within the forum growing to mirror the wider autistic community in Scotland. The forum is now made up of over 150 autistic adults from across Scotland.

“It’s important to feel heard and seen in representations of autism and the forum has provided that space and been a respectful and inclusive environment.” Member of the Autism Advisory Forum

Inspiring Scotland Fund managers have worked closely with the Autism and Learning Disabilities team in Scottish Government, members of the Autism Advisory Forum and one of the Inspiring Inclusion portfolio, The Assembly (hosted by Values into Action Scotland) to develop the new Leadership Framework. The ambition for the  framework is that  autistic people and people with a learning disability have more opportunities to be active contributors to policy development and to have access to appropriate support to do this. The first topic being explored is accessing mental health services.

 “Everybody should be included and listened to as well. We’ve got the experiences. They should listen to us.” An Assembly member

We can use our relationships developed through the Inspiring Inclusion and Increasing Understanding of Autism programmes to facilitate conversations and make sure people who are most impacted by policy are directly involved in its creation.

We will continue to develop our work by listening to those who directly experience challenges and in line with ambition of the National Performance Framework this is a fundamental strand of better and inclusive decision making.

We look forward to continuing this work, to build a Scotland that understands, values, and celebrates all of our citizens.