Brighton & Hove Accessible City Strategy 2023 to 2028

Accessibility must lie at the heart of how we think and work at Brighton & Hove City Council both as a service provider and an employer. 

We'll evidence this through systemic change. This means looking at our policies, practice, procedures, and services and challenging ourselves with the following questions:

• are our services proactively accessible and disability-inclusive?
• what barriers are we creating, how are these impacting those we serve, and what must we do to change and remove these barriers at their root?
• are we actively creating equitable voice, outcomes, and value for disabled people who live, work, and visit in Brighton & Hove? if not, why not, and what needs to change?
• are we aware of the barriers that may exist for disabled people from diverse backgrounds and preventing and removing those barriers?

There's good practice and engagement we can speak to, however, we also have significant work to do in terms of accessibility and disability inclusion.

Communities are rightly holding us to account. We need to work as one council and as individual services, alongside communities - not have our communities do all the work for us - to create an accessible city and council.

Councillors and staff alike realise that achieving the vision and the aims of this strategy will take some time which is why it's important to have a strategic approach setting out where we want to get to and how we plan to get there. 

This is a continuing journey, and the strategy provides a foundation and a framework for the first 5 years of this journey. We'll keep it under review and expect it to become part of the operating principles of Brighton & Hove City Council for the foreseeable future.

Residents want to see action and change. So do we. We need a considered plan to achieve systemic change ensuring we truly understand accessibility and diverse disabled people’s requirements. In this way, inclusive, accessibility-informed practice is embedded in how we think, work, design and deliver services. We hope this strategy sets us on the right path.

- Councillor Leslie Pumm, Chair of the Equality, Community Safety and Human Rights Committee.

Foreword in British Sign Language

The Accessible City Strategy strategy sets out our: 

• commitment to accessibility, especially to a best practice inclusive design approach
• long-term vision and aims
• strategic themes and priority actions to achieve change
• plans on monitoring and reporting on progress
• gratitude to everyone who has and is helping Brighton & Hove City Council in its work to achieve an accessible city and has informed the thinking on this strategy

The Accessible City Strategy is supported by a set of appendices that:

• explain the terminology and definitions we're using and the importance of intersectionality
• outline how this strategy fits with Brighton & Hove City Council’s existing Fair and Inclusive Action Plan and the values of Brighton & Hove City Council
• share information on the work council services are currently doing to achieve accessible services and an accessible city
• feature key data that has informed the strategy
• make clear how the strategy can be accessed in various formats and who to contact for more information about the strategy

Terminology in the Accessible City Strategy

We're using the terms disabled person, disabled people, or a person with access requirements as inclusive terms to recognise the different views, preferences, and attitudes that residents and communities hold. 

We acknowledge that disabilities are non-visible (including mental health problems) and visible. For more detail on the language we're using, visit the terminology section of the Accessible City Strategy.

We're aware that some people and communities do not identify as disabled, however, they experience barriers to our services because we have not considered or are unable to meet their access requirements, for example, some D/deaf or neurodivergent residents.

We commit to becoming more aware and nuanced in the use of terminology related to disabled people and those who experience access barriers to Brighton & Hove City Council services.

 Introduction in British Sign Language

Our vision

Our vision is to be a council that is welcoming, inclusive, and accessible, going beyond the legal minimum when providing barrier-free services that promote independence and equity of access, opportunity, and representation for disabled people and their diverse identities. 

Brighton & Hove Councillors and Brighton & Hove City Council staff truly understand the varied lived experiences and systemic barriers faced by disabled people who live, work, and visit Brighton & Hove. 

We all do the necessary work year after year to embed accessibility and disability inclusion in how we think and act as a service provider and employer.

We're a council that proactively uses its role as a civic leader to influence businesses, creatives, visitors, and other public services, to make accessibility part of Brighton & Hove’s culture and to lead by example.

Brighton & Hove and we, as Brighton & Hove City Council, are a beacon of change to residents, organisations and local authorities nationwide.

Our aims

Our aim is to be a council that:

• ensures disability rights are understood and upheld by councillors and council staff, improving decision-making and Brighton & Hove City Council’s impact on disabled people with visible and non-visible disabilities
• has a council-wide integrated approach to accessibility, establishing accessibility as a minimum standard which we improve upon continuously to go above and beyond the legal minimum
• is consistently disability-inclusive, and has accessibility embedded and intentionally considered as a matter of course
• identifies and addresses ableism, inaccessibility, and inequity in our service delivery and engagement for all diverse disabled people, understanding lived experiences, impact, and who is most excluded
• reviews and addresses outcomes created by ableist policies, practice and culture within Brighton & Hove City Council and Brighton & Hove
• prevents the creation of barriers and provides barrier-free access to Brighton & Hove City Council services, Brighton & Hove’s public spaces and areas, facilities, transport, retail, leisure, learning opportunities and other aspects of daily life
• adopts an approach based on the social model of disability
• provides inclusive adjustments and disability-inclusive, psychologically safe practice as standard
• takes responsibility for continually challenging itself, as an organisation, for changing that which is in our control and for challenging others using our role as a civic leader
• leads by example
• has a proactive and collaborative relationship with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations as standard practice across Brighton & Hove City Council
• is committed to early consultation and involvement, and to co-production wherever possible
• adopts the approach of ‘nothing about us, without us’ to continuously improve how we engage with people
• sensitively and empathetically continues to learn and better understand D/deaf, blind, non-visibly disabled and neurodivergent people’s lived experiences
• recognises the breadth and diversity of disabled lives and actively and continuously improves our accessibility, inclusion, and support
• actively uses people’s feedback and data to change and improve our systems, policies, and practices to reduce inequity for disabled people
• has a rolling programme of work to take us towards our accessible city vision, undertaken by staff and councillors across the organisation
• highlights key service areas where change is prioritised
• takes an intersectional approach and recognises some D/deaf, disabled, and neurodiverse people face multiple layers of barriers because of their additional intersecting identities, for example, their ethnicity, legal status, class, sexual orientation, faith, or gender

Our vision and aims in British Sign Language

The time frame of the Accessible City Strategy

The Accessible City Strategy spans the first 5 years of our longer-term commitment to disability inclusion. It underpins long-term commitment that enables accessibility and disability to become embedded as part of business as usual along with and equal to our other equality priorities.

Our timeframe realistically recognises what it will take, practically, to create long-term sustainable change across more than 397 services and 5 large directorates and teams of around 9,000 staff (including schools).

The Accessible City Strategy sets a foundation and framework for us to work towards an accessible and disability-inclusive council. From this foundation, we can develop focused actions over a 5-year period that build on our accessibility work, knowledge, and skillsets to date.

The Accessible City Strategy intends to: 

• identify and address the underlying causes of barriers experienced by all disabled people
• establish a process by which such barriers are identified and removed from existing services and facilities, and ‘designed out’ of new council activities

As we work towards our aims, we recognise change will take time. In the interim, we'll aim to establish alternative approaches to ensuring access is as equal as possible for disabled people as it is for those who do not have access requirements.

We're deeply committed to: 

• fulfilling our civic and public sector equality duties and responsibilities, anticipatory or otherwise
• working to go above and beyond wherever possible

We're setting this strategy up in conjunction with our Anti-Racism Strategy and future equality strategies. 

The Accessible City Strategy is fully supported by our Executive Leadership Team and integrated with our Council Plan and Directorate Plans that are published on our website. It's also embedded in our Fair and Inclusive Action Plan and linked to our Equality and Inclusion policy statement and strategy statement.

In developing the Accessible City Strategy, we recognise the reality of full equal access for everyone may not always be possible due to a broad range of issues, and one person’s preferred access solution might create a barrier for someone else. However, intentionally inclusive design approaches can often find innovative or multi-layered solutions that provide access for a diverse range of disabled people.

We're seeking to influence change beyond ourselves, working closely with our statutory partners, commissioned providers, private businesses, community, and voluntary sector, to: 

• convey and connect community voices
• promote the adoption of best practice
• encourage proactive inclusive design

Through the process of developing Brighton & Hove City Council’s Accessible City and Anti-Racism Strategies, 3 key strategic themes for change in Brighton & Hove City Council have been identified and prioritised:

1. Engagement - communicating and collaborating
2. Data - collecting and using
3. Policy and practice - reviewing and changing

Priority actions have been identified under each theme for Brighton & Hove City Council, and for individual directorates, to support the creation of an accessible, disability-inclusive, anti-racist council, and city. 

These actions are agile with scope to be refined and expanded over the course of the strategy. Many actions have already begun. 

Our intention is that the strategic themes and priority actions will focus work towards embedding equality, diversity, inclusion, accessibility and intersectional non-silo-ed approaches into business-as-usual practice, mindsets, and service delivery.

We're prioritising critical action, however basic, that identifies and works towards tackling deep-seated root causes. This will create more impactful, intersectional and value-adding long-term changes to the experiences of disabled residents and communities living, working, and visiting Brighton & Hove. 

Ongoing work and consultation will continue to explore ‘quick wins’ wherever possible within our resource, time, and capacity provisions and that does not detract from systemic change. 

Detailed action plans with activities over 5 years of the strategy are being produced in consultation with the Disability Panel and the Wider Reference Group. They will be monitored regularly, internally, to further develop ownership, accountability, and long-term sustainable commitment, in addition to external reporting. 

The themes have been aligned with the existing equality, diversity, and inclusion priorities of Brighton & Hove City Council for example Brighton & Hove City Council’s and directorates’ Fair and Inclusive Action Plan, as well as the British Deaf Association’s British Sign Language Charter. This is to avoid confusion, duplication, and increased reporting burden on services.

Strategic theme 1: engagement - communicating and collaborating

Through our priority actions, we want to create a council that: 

• engages early, accessibly, sensitively, empathetically, flexibly, and innovatively with disabled residents and disabled people-led organisations
• creates quality and sustainable dialogue between council services and communities with 2-way feedback
• recognises the burden and impact of asking for people's lived experiences and actively avoids engagement fatigue and harm
• improves and builds communities' and residents' trust in Brighton & Hove City Council by centring communities of identity in our equalities work

We do this by taking a nuanced anti-racist, equitable, and disability-inclusive approach, considering intersectional barriers, impacts, and requirements

Engagement - communicating and collaborating in British Sign Language

Strategic theme 2: data - collecting and using

Through our priority actions, we want to create a council that:

• monitors, develops, and enhances our organisational knowledge through data-driven insights and equality, diversity, and inclusion-informed data dashboards, including intersectional data about accessibility and adjustments
• intentionally collects, learns from, and uses qualitative and quantitative insights to proactively improve council-wide leadership, disability-accessibility diverse representation, skills, retention, success and the experience of our people, residents, communities, and service users

Data - collecting and using in British Sign Language

Strategic theme 3: policy and practice - reviewing and changing

Through our priority actions, we want to create a council that: 

• intentionally and consistently conducts robust equality impact assessments
• proactively considers accessibility and inclusive adjustments, holding ourselves to account and applying and embedding innovative best practice into the way we think, work, and deliver
• identifies, recognises, prevents, and removes barriers to equity, accessibility, and disability inclusivity, using anti-racist approaches
• creates sustainable long-term change by improving inclusive leadership, self-education, and council culture, practice, and policies

Policy and practice - reviewing and changing in British Sign Language

Using feedback from the Disability Panel, the Wider Reference Group, community groups, individuals, and data, 3 council-wide priority actions have been identified and prioritised for the duration of the strategy.

Each of Brighton & Hove City Council’s 5 directorates has identified its priority actions for how it will take forward council-wide actions in relation to its work and service delivery. 

The directorate-level actions will evolve and may change over the lifetime of the strategy, building year on year in response to services’ learning, communities’ feedback, and evaluation of their impact. 

Corporate support services such as Brighton & Hove City Council’s Communities and Equality team, the Corporate Policy team, and Human Resources and Organisational Development, will work collaboratively to provide advice, guidance, support, expertise, development opportunities, and co-ordination. 

Sharing of learning will enable all directorates in Brighton & Hove City Council to build consistent practice and delivery. 

Our Priority Actions in British Sign Language 

Council-wide priority actions 

Engagement: communicating and collaborating 

Increase and improve our communication and engagement with disabled residents, service users, customers, visitors, and tenants, aligned to a new engagement strategy being developed for the whole council.

Our engagement should be accessible, inclusively adjusted, nuanced, and intersectional and be used proactively to show changes to council policy and practice.

Data: collecting and using 

Improve the collection, analysis, and application of qualitative, quantitative, and intersectional data regarding disabled residents, service users, customers, visitors, and tenants to better understand their access and experience of services, using this proactively to inform service improvement.

Engagement: communicating and collaborating and Data: collecting and using in British Sign Language

Policy and practice: reviewing and changing 

Identify, review and co-produce key policies, plans, strategies, and work, embedding inclusive-design principles to better understand their impact, remove barriers and improve outcomes for disabled people, with intersectional insights. 

This is done alongside our own intersectional disability-inclusive council-wide learning and development to embed accessibility and anti-racist practice as a default.

Brighton & Hove City Council consists of 5 directorates

The 5 directorates in Brighton & Hove City Council are:

• Economy, Environment and Culture
• Families, Children and Learning
• Governance, People and Resources
• Health and Adult Social Care
• Housing, Neighbourhoods and Communities

You can find out more about how we're structured and the work we're already doing to listen, work with and deliver more accessible services and create a more accessible city, in Appendix 5.

Policy and practice: reviewing and changing in British Sign Language

Directorate-level priority actions 

Economy, Environment and Culture Directorate Actions

1. We want Brighton & Hove City Centre to be a place everyone is proud of and can thrive in

To do this we will:

• prepare planning guidance to help Brighton & Hove City Centre become more inclusive
• work with Brighton & Hove’s Disability Panel, Wider Reference Group and other partners to identify and prioritise areas in Brighton & Hove City Centre that we can make more accessible (these could include streets, buildings, recreational spaces and facilities)
• develop design solutions that developers can use for planning permission (in the future, council teams can use these design solutions for facility improvements)
• assess the impact of the planning guidance, amend it if needed, and roll the new guidance out across EEC with training

2. New Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) approach

Introduce an iterative and streamlined Equalities Checklist working with the Communities and Equalities team. 

This will be focused on preparing and implementing new Economy, Environment and Culture (EEC) Projects and Plans to ensure that equality, accessibility, and intersectional considerations are embedded in projects from the beginning. 

This will be piloted through the Highway Access Strategy review and update. It can then be rolled out to all EEC and Brighton & Hove City Council.

3. Accessible services

Improve access to our services for all equality groups.

Use some whole service Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) to help us understand more about our service users and to inform service development including how services are accessed.

Improve engagement and visibility of our accessibility-related work demonstrating where we go beyond national policy and more.

4. Departmental training

Train and upskill our understanding as individuals, leadership team and service via learning and development delivered by the lived experience of disabled people’s organisations. 

The objective of the training is for officers to:

• better understand diverse requirements
• undertake case study learning individually and as a group
• develop our first-level mediation skills
• improve our understanding of intersectional and accessibility impacts for diverse disabled people

Economy, Environment and Culture Actions in British Sign Language 

Families, Children and Learning Directorate Actions

1. Evaluate and review current accessibility, engagement, consultation, and co-production arrangements across FCL ensuring they hear from disabled and other not heard groups. 

Ensure service delivery and any planned changes, including the development of an inclusion charter for education, are using this learning to improve engagement and accessibility for and with disabled residents. 

2. Conduct a review of learning from service and change Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) to better inform wider service delivery, improving accessibility and equity for diverse disabled people as a focus.

3. Design and implement a programme to review all directorate-wide policies, procedures, and operational guides, including commissioning and Brighton & Hove’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Strategy to ensure the learning from actions 1 and 2 above are acted upon and reflected in our ways of working, becoming more accessible and intersectional in our policy, practice, thinking, and culture.

Families, Children and Learning in British Sign Language 

Governance, People and Resources Directorate Actions

1. Develop an understanding of reasonable adjustments across Brighton & Hove City Council and directorate to enable timely adjustments to be put in place for our staff, service users and customers, while we better understand requirements, identify barriers to access and reasonable adjustment provision, and develop council-wide solutions.

2. Create accessible documents and communications for our staff, service users and customers following accessibility toolkit guidelines.

3. Embed disability-inclusivity and accessibility by default in Brighton & Hove City Council’s 2023 to 2028 Corporate Plan.

Governance, People and Resources Directorate Actions in British Sign Language 

Health and Adult Social Care Directorate Actions

1. Improve the collection and use of quantitative and qualitative data in planning from an accessibility perspective recognising intersectionality. We will:

• increase engagement with disabled communities, recognise intersectionality and improve feedback to stakeholders
• ensure all plans that contribute to the delivery of our corporate strategies recognise and respond to health inequalities including those that affect disabled people

2. Evaluate and improve accessibility of service delivery and access to services. We will:

• ensure all commissions include accessibility statements, and all services must assure us that they meet the accessibility standards required, including considering intersectionality
• review access to information and materials, ensuring content is up to date and suits accessible info standards
• review our Direct Payments service based on engagement activity with an accessibility perspective
• oversee a review of Public Health commissioned health improvement services, to assess accessibility for people with learning disabilities
• develop and implement a toolkit to encourage businesses to become more accessible for older people and people with dementia
• increase resources and uptake of training in how to provide accessibility informed and culturally competent services

Health and Adult Social Care in British Sign Language 

Housing, Neighbourhoods and Communities Directorate Actions

1. Develop and implement a council-wide engagement strategy, to better understand the views of disabled people including their intersecting identities, and to facilitate a co-production approach.

2. Improve understanding and use of local data relating to disability (and any intersectional issues) in the context of Housing, Neighbourhoods and Communities (HNC) services, identifying gaps and applying accessibility-informed intersectional approaches to analysing and reporting on HNC data dashboards.

3. Explore cross-connecting work with appropriate Environment, Economy, and Culture (EEC) Services to create accessibility-informed improvements to Brighton & Hove's built environments.

4. Ensure that HNC staff are aware of the corporate digital inclusion strategy, networking group and local resources to improve customers' digital skills and address digital inequality.

5. Identify best practices in accessible and inclusive council housing design and ensure that this is reflected in our approach to solving maintenance, housing, and building access issues (including day-to-day repairs and capital works as well as new build, and approach to building design and maintenance).

6. Create an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) resource hub with relevant toolkits and resources that support diverse service providers and advocacy groups, to improve our collective awareness and communications approach as a council.

7. Incorporate the feedback from a focus group of staff who are residents into council-wide EDI learning and improvements around accessibility.

Housing, Neighbourhoods and Communities in British Sign Language 

Detailed action plans with measures of success are being developed to implement this strategy. 

Performance against our prioritised actions will have community accountability via: 

• the Disability Panel and the Wider Reference Group
• ongoing engagement with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations

Key highlights of performance, progress and barriers will also be reported to Brighton & Hove City Council’s Equality, Community Safety and Human Rights Committee and Brighton & Hove's Equality and Inclusion Partnership.

Our progress will be monitored through Brighton & Hove City Council’s internal performance management framework. 

Quarterly performance monitoring is undertaken by our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Officers acting as critical friends to each of our 5 directorates. Each directorate provides a progress update to the Corporate Equality Delivery Group chaired by the Chief Executive who oversees all Brighton & Hove City Council’s equality, diversity, and inclusion work.

Additionally, each directorate has its own Equality Delivery Group to lead and deliver its equality work, ensuring the directorate continues to embed equality, disability accessibility, anti-racism, and intersectional thinking in how it acts and delivers as a service provider and employer.

Actions will also be monitored for leadership through individual staff performance reviews with their manager.

More information on action planning and monitoring is available in Appendix 4.

Monitoring and Reporting in British Sign Language 

This strategy and action plan has been created through dialogue with disabled people’s organisations, disabled people, and Brighton & Hove City Council’s Disabled Workers and Carers Network.

Thank you to the many individuals and groups that gave their time, energy, and resilience to talk with us about the development of this strategy.

We're very grateful to:

• all staff, focus group participants, and community members who have contributed their thoughts and time and have shared their lived experiences with us
• our Disability Panel members including the following organisations and individuals:
  • Amaze 
  • Brighton & Hove Deaf Services Liaison Forum 
  • DeafCOG 
  • Brighton & Hove Speak Out 
  • East Sussex Vision Support 
  • Grace Eyre Foundation 
  • Mind in Brighton & Hove 
  • Surdi Brighton & Hove 
  • MS Society
  • Chantal Spencer 
  • Charlotte Feld 
  • Emily Fell 
  • Red Fletcher
• our Wider Reference Group members including the following organisations:
  • Assert Brighton & Hove 
  • BADGE 
  • Beach Access Team Brighton & Hove 
  • Campaign4Change 
  • Downs View Life Skills College 
  • East Sussex Sight Loss Council 
  • Hangleton and Knoll Project 
  • Hill Park School 
  • Parent Carers’ Council (PaCC) 
  • Stay Up Late 
  • St John's College 
• Possability People
• council staff on the internal task and finish group
• Freeney Williams

Our Gratitude in British Sign Language 

Disabled people’s voices are vital to this work, and we've established 2 engagement groups that are at the heart of developing and implementing our Accessible City Strategy. 

These are the:

• Disability Panel
• Wider Reference Group

These engagement groups centre the voices of people with lived experience of disability and speak to the disability activist slogan ‘nothing about us, without us’.

Both engagement groups are meaningful groups that contribute their expertise and experience to making the strategy as inclusive as possible.

As both groups evolve, we're committed to developing our intersectional perspectives and increasing representation from the lived experience of disabled people from:

• Black and Racially Minoritised groups
• LGBTQIA+ groups
• faith communities
• diverse marginalised communities

The Disability Panel

The Disability Panel provides strategic, expert, and impartial advice to us on developing, implementing, monitoring, and reviewing the Accessible City Strategy and resulting action plans. 

The panel is currently chaired by the chief executive of Possability People and Panel membership is made up of disabled individuals and representatives from local disabled people’s organisations. 

The organisations currently represented on the Disability Panel are: 

• Mind in Brighton & Hove
• the Grace Eyre Foundation
• Brighton & Hove Speak Out
• the MS Society
• East Sussex Vision Support
• Amaze

Meetings are also attended by our externally engaged disability consultant Freeney Williams. 

We recruited 4 disabled individuals to the Disability Panel following a public-facing recruitment campaign and a shortlisting and interview process.

Disabled person organisations and disabled individuals are paid for preparing for and attending 4 meetings per year, and members provide advice and guidance to us on relevant topics in relation to the strategy. 

We recognise that not all people with access requirements identify as disabled, including many Deaf people. For this reason, a representative from our Deaf Services Liaison Forum (DSLF) has a place on the Disability Panel and contributes input from the perspective of Deaf Community members.

The Chair of the Disability Panel facilitates a feedback loop between the Disability Panel and the Wider Reference Group. The Disability Panel will also monitor and review the Accessible City Strategy.

The Wider Reference Group

The Wider Reference Group provides critical input and feedback to the Disability Panel and shares experiences of barriers and ideas for solutions, with clear boundaries of engagement established through agreed purpose and guidance documents for both groups. 

The role of the Wider Reference Group is to provide a safe, inclusive space for local groups and organisations to give their views and take part in discussions on how Brighton & Hove and Brighton & Hove City Council services can become more accessible.

The Group is a membership body, open to representatives from disabled people’s organisations that support and empower disabled residents of Brighton & Hove – ideally with lived experience of disability themselves. 

There will be future opportunities for individuals with lived experience of disability to get involved with sharing their views. 

The strategy currently publishes priority actions only. These will be fulfilled by a number of activities which have SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely) action plans developed internally with relevant council directorates across the 5-year strategy time period. 

Delivery will be ongoing, and actions and progress will be reviewed regularly through our quarterly internal performance management and reporting framework. 

Consultation, advisory and other activities will be conducted within the terms of reference of the Disability Panel and the Wider Reference Group specified in the purpose and guidance documents.

Disability Panel in British Sign Language 

We're using some key terminology in the strategy to support the delivery and creation of an accessible city.

Discussions will continue to take place throughout the lifespan of this strategy to ensure language is kept up to date. 

Any terminology used in this strategy will be reviewed on a regular basis and updated as necessary  Terminology in British Sign Language 

Terminology

Accessible city 

An accessible city is one where people with access requirements, who live, work, and visit Brighton & Hove, have, independent, inclusive, and barrier-free access to: 

• council services
• Brighton & Hove’s public spaces and areas
• facilities
• transport
• retail
• leisure infrastructure
• learning opportunities
• support networks
• health, safety, and care provisions

The Accessible City Strategy impacts all areas of city life such as

• social and economic engagement
• access to health, wellbeing, and social care
• independent living
• the built environment
• safe and accessible public spaces and facilities
• housing and its suitability for people’s access requirements
• access to work opportunities, training, and education
• public services and facilities
• access to involvement in decision-making and participation in all aspects of city life

Accessible City in British Sign Language 

Disabled people 

We're using the terms ‘disabled person’, ‘disabled people’, or ‘a person with access requirements’ as generic terms to recognise the different views, preferences, and attitudes that residents and communities hold. 

We're aware that some people and communities do not identify as disabled, however, they experience barriers to our services because we have not considered or are unable to meet their access requirements, for example, D/deaf residents.

This is recognised in our use of the social model of disability and the cultural model of Deafness. 

We commit to becoming more aware and nuanced in the use of terminology related to disabled people and those who experience access barriers to Brighton & Hove City Council services.

Disabled People in British Sign Language 

Disability 

The definition below is taken from the Equality Act 20101 from Guidance on the definition of disability on GOV.UK.

A person is considered to be disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities.

What ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ mean: 

1. ‘Substantial’ is more than minor or trivial, For example, it takes much longer than it usually would to complete a daily task like getting dressed.
2. ‘Long-term’ means 12 months or more, for example, a breathing condition that develops as a result of a lung infection. There are special rules about recurring or fluctuating conditions, for example, arthritis.

Progressive conditions are defined as those that get worse over time. People with progressive conditions can be classed as disabled. However, people automatically meet the disability definition under the Equality Act 2010 from the day they are diagnosed with HIV infection, cancer, or multiple sclerosis”.

The Equality Act includes guidance on conditions that aren’t covered by the disability definition including, for example, addiction to non-prescribed drugs or alcohol. 

The social model of disability distinguishes between 'impairment' (functional limitations of mind, body, or senses) and 'disability' (disadvantage or restrictions of activity placed by society). 

A key concept of the social model is that society disables people by the way things are arranged. Organise things differently, and they are enabled - though the impairment has not changed. 

The social model regards disability as ‘The loss of or limitation of opportunities to take part in the normal life of the community on an equal level with others due to physical or social barriers'.

The above definition focuses on removing barriers that prevent disabled people's participation as citizens.

Disabled people include, but are not limited to, people with: 

• physical disabilities or who find it difficult to move around
• sensory disabilities or who cannot hear or see, or who find it difficult to hear or see
• learning disabilities
• mental illness
• long-term conditions

Disability in British Sign Language 

Non-visible disabilities 

A non-visible disability is a disability or health condition that is not immediately obvious. It's estimated that 70 to 80% of disabilities are non-visible and can defy stereotypes of what people might ‘think’ disabled people ‘look’ like (source: Living with Non-Visible Disabilities blog post).

Some non-visible disabilities include: 

• mental health conditions (for example: anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder – OCD, personality disorders)
• cognitive impairment, such as dementia, traumatic brain injury and learning disabilities
• physical health conditions, including diabetes, respiratory conditions, and incontinence
• energy-limiting and/or chronic pain conditions, including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)
• sensory processing difficulties
• Autism, Asperger syndrome and other neurodivergence
• hearing, vision, and speech impairments

People with non-visible disabilities may experience a lack of understanding, and disbelief, and may be assumed by others not to be disabled. 

Many people with non-visible disabilities report unequal opportunities and difficulties accessing the services and support they need. They have reported challenges in access and inclusion in employment and in higher education and further education. 

Difficulties accessing other public services and infrastructure, such as transport, parking, sidewalks, mobility aids, and health and social care, can also impact disabled people’s ability to participate in work and education (source: UK Parliament POSTnote Invisible Disabilities in Education and Employment).

It's possible for people to be disabled visibly and non-visibly and for the two to be related or unrelated.

The choice of ‘non-visible disabilities’ as a preferred term to talk about disabilities that are not immediately obvious is influenced by the negative connotations, which can be associated with expressions such as ‘hidden disability’ (which can suggest that people are purposefully hiding their disability) or ‘invisible disability’ (this term can imply that the disability doesn’t really exist and may be all in an individual’s head) (source: The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) position statement on non-visible disabilities).

We absolutely recognise non-visible disabilities as having parity with visible disabilities and seek to ensure voices are represented in balance across all forums and for people with marginalised and intersecting identities who are also disabled in multiple and complex ways.

We seek to learn from the experiences of people living with non-visible disabilities and to remove barriers to our services and employment in Brighton & Hove City Council.

Our internal disability awareness training will highlight non-visible disabilities and guidance on improving access for people with these conditions and experiences.

Non visible disabilities in British Sign Language 

Individual rights of disabled people 

Disabled people are protected from direct and indirect discrimination under the Equality Act.

Brighton & Hove City Council is committed to our legal duty to not discriminate against disabled individuals, and our anticipatory duties to consider in advance what we need to do to make our services accessible to our disabled customers, residents, and visitors.

We protect and support the rights of disabled individuals. We'll listen to and learn from the experiences of disabled individuals.

Where discrimination has occurred, we'll encourage and support disabled individuals to make complaints.

We'll work with our colleagues to ensure that their situations are fully explored, mistakes corrected, mitigations made where possible and that lessons learned are applied as deeply and systemically as possible to reduce future experiences of discrimination.

We recognise that disabled people experiencing ableism may also be experiencing sexism, racism, homo-/bi-/transphobia, islamophobia, antisemitism and more. 

We also recognise that disabled people might experience discrimination in relation to other life experiences or circumstances not covered by the Equality Act.

We commit to working as inclusively as we can with disabled individuals experiencing marginalisation and exclusion, above and beyond the legal protections outlined in the Equality Act.

Individual rights of disabled people in British Sign Language 

Ableism and disablism 

Ableism is discrimination in favour of non-disabled people. 

Disablism is discrimination or prejudice against disabled people. Both terms describe disability discrimination, but the emphasis is different. 

Disablism emphasises discrimination against disabled people, while ableism emphasises discrimination in favour of non- disabled people (source: Disablism and ableism Scope UK).

We live in an ableist society that assumes that the ‘normal’ way to live is as a non-disabled person, and that views disabled people as ‘less than’ in various ways. 

Examples of ableist behaviours, assumptions and stereotypes include: 

• believing that non-disabled people are more valuable to society than disabled people
• making assumptions about what a disabled person can or cannot do
• assuming that disabled people want or need to be ‘fixed’
• systems, policies, procedures, practices, mindsets, and approaches in society, by governments and organisations, that assume and signal non-disabled people as more capable
• stigmatising sickness, ill health, incapacity, and any kind of disability and difference
• failing to incorporate accessibility into building design plans
• building inaccessible websites
• not making inclusive adjustments at work or in service access, experience, and delivery
• failing to make information available in an accessible format, such as braille or British Sign Language (BSL)
• mocking disabled people

We recognise the complex impacts of ableism and disablism and seek to grow as a council that works against ableism and disablism in all their forms. 

We have zero tolerance for any form of discrimination against disabled people. 

Ableism and Disablism in British Sign Language 

Audism 

The term audism was coined by Tom Humphries in his 1977 doctoral dissertation Communicating Across Cultures (Deaf-Hearing) and Language Learning. He defines audism as "the notion that one is superior based on one's ability to hear or to behave in the manner of one who hears".

Audism results in a negative stigma toward people who do not hear. 

Like other systems of oppression, audism judges, labels, and limits individuals on the basis of whether they hear and speak. 

Audism takes place in all levels of government and society in the form of direct, indirect, and/or systemic discrimination and discriminatory behaviour or prejudice against Deaf people (source: The Canadian Association of the Deaf on Audism).

Both Deaf and hearing people can carry out audism. For many Deaf people raised in hearing families who did not learn to sign, audism may be internalised.

Examples of audism include:

• jumping in to help a Deaf person communicate
• asking a Deaf person to read your lips or write when s/he has indicated this isn’t preferred
• asking a Deaf person to ‘tone down’ their facial expressions because they are making others uncomfortable
• devoting a significant amount of instructional time for a Deaf child to lipreading and speech therapy, rather than educational subjects
• refusal, or failure to use, sign language in front of a person who depends on sign language to communicate if you know how to sign
• denying accessibilities, like an interpreter or captions
• insisting that Deaf and hard-of-hearing people conform to the hearing community
• assuming that Deaf people can’t do anything, or lowering your expectations of their skills because they cannot hear
• approaching Deafness as a tragedy
• patronising behaviours, including belittling a Deaf person’s voice. 

(Source: YouTube video shared by DeafCOG on Audism).

We recognise audism as a distinct form of discrimination and recognise its impact on Deaf and hard-of-hearing people. We're committed to increasing our understanding of audism and how to eliminate it. 

We aim to identify and continuously improve our accessibility, inclusion and support specifically for D/deaf, deafened, and hard of hearing.

As signatories of the British Deaf Association’s British Sign Language Charter, we pledge to:

• consult formally and informally with the local Deaf community on a regular basis
• ensure access for Deaf people to information and services
• support Deaf children and families
• ensure staff working with Deaf people can communicate effectively using British Sign Language
• promote learning and high-quality teaching of British Sign Language

There are also simple things that can improve access for D/deaf and hard-of-hearing people in our city, including the following: 

• 'deaf friendly' shops with retail shops and cafes can display a sign in their window to make it clear that staff have deaf awareness
• all city employees and contractors should receive training on how to interact with Deaf individuals and provide accessible services, this can include training on how to communicate effectively through sign language interpreters, how to use assistive technologies, and how to provide accessible customer service
• we can increase public awareness about the needs and experiences of Deaf individuals to help reduce barriers and increase accessibility, this can include public education campaigns, targeted outreach to businesses and organisations, and hosting community events that celebrate Deaf culture

All public spaces, including sidewalks, parks, and public buildings, should be designed with accessibility in mind. This includes ensuring that there are: 

• clear paths of travel
• accessible entrances
• appropriate signage

Additionally, all public buildings should be equipped with assistive technologies such as closed captioning, visual alarms, and tactile maps, which can benefit everyone.

To support and explore these and more potential actions and our pledge, the formation of a working group will be explored. This working group will help bring focus within the wider strategy to the requirements of Deaf people while connecting across to wider intersectional accessibility and disability-inclusion work.

Deaf Services Liaison Forum

Our Deaf Services Liaison Forum (DSLF) brings together organisations that have a stake, expertise and interest in championing and working to increase equality for D/deaf communities in Brighton & Hove.

The DSLF gathers a range of perspectives including feedback from D/deaf residents to inform service development and changes and provide an ‘expert’ panel where changes can be ‘tested’.

Current DSLF projects include establishing a working group to take forward the Forum's strategic actions which include engagement with the local D/deaf community via an annual open day.

A separate working group is developing ‘mystery shopping’ activities with local services to learn how accessible they are to D/deaf people and offer feedback and support for services to become more accessible.

Inclusive adjustments 

We prefer to use the term inclusive adjustments instead of just reasonable adjustments. This term and approach have been recommended further to consultation with our key stakeholder groups comprised of disabled residents. Inclusive adjustments go beyond just ‘reasonable’ adjustments. 

Reasonable adjustments are recommended in law, and it's our anticipatory and legal duty to provide these as an employer, public services provider, and local authority.

Read advice from:

• GOV.UK on the legal duty of providing reasonable adjustments
• Citizen's Advice on the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people

Inclusive adjustments take a holistic view that considers diverse, unique adjustments in addition to reasonable adjustments recommended by law.

Our values connect strongly with our commitment to place accessibility and the requirements of diverse disabled people at the heart of the way we design and deliver our services. 

Our values shape the way that council staff review their own conduct and the performance of others. 

Each member of staff has a Performance and Development Plan which sets out their current work objectives so that they, their manager, and the organisation are clear on what they are being asked to achieve and that they have the relevant training and support not only to do this but also to develop as people and professionals. 

We believe strongly in a motivated workforce that feels ownership of their individual roles and the wider aims of our organisation. 

We aim to develop and strengthen internal accountability to ensure long-term sustainable change.

Below are our core values with a description of how they connect to prioritising accessibility in every aspect of our work as your council.

Collaboration

Work together and contribute to the creation of helpful and successful teams and partnerships across Brighton & Hove City Council and beyond.

Our Equalities Team, Corporate Equality Delivery Group (CEDG) and Directorate Equality Delivery Groups (DEDGs) are involved in supporting council teams and services to intentionally centre accessibility at the heart of their work. 

We engage with our local D/deaf, disabled, neurodiverse, LGBTQIA+, and Black and Racially Minoritised communities, to learn about how we can best meet their access requirements.

Council Values and Accessible Strategy in British Sign Language 

Housing, Neighbourhoods and Communities (HNC) Directorate

Housing, Neighbourhoods and Community (HNC) provide a range of different services to people living in, working, and visiting Brighton & Hove.

HNC works to strengthen our communities, improve wellbeing, and make a difference in people’s lives and the neighbourhood they live in.

HNC helps people access housing. It provides a landlord function to over 11,500 council tenants and is increasing the supply of housing in Brighton & Hove. 

HNC provides an award-winning library service.

HNC supports and helps develop Brighton & Hove’s voluntary and community sectors via the Communities, Equality and Third Sector team. This team not only has responsibilities for community engagement, but also plays a key role in promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion, for example, by developing the Accessible City and Anti-Racism Strategies. 

HNC also regulates Brighton & Hove through services such as Environmental Health, Licensing or Trading Standards, and helps keep our city safe through the Community Safety Team.

Data and the Community Voice 

As Brighton & Hove’s landlord, HNC is aware not only of the housing shortage and the need to increase supply but also of the need to maintain and improve the quality of existing council housing.

This work will be informed by the requirements of the Social Housing Regulation Bill placing more responsibility on social landlords to engage with their tenants.

The residents’ voice, captured through the consultative structures, continues to place an emphasis on good quality accommodation and safer communities.

The supply of affordable homes is a key priority for Brighton & Hove City Council.

Providing the homes that meet our residents’ needs including for disabled people and ensuring that accommodation across all tenures is safe and secure is essential and will require data on what those needs are. 

Given the demographic changes within Brighton & Hove too, the need for accessible and good quality housing for people is recognised as a priority issue. We recognise that the cost of living and housing affordability is challenging for many, often made worse for people with intersecting identities. Our work on affordable housing provision will explore what ‘affordability’ looks like for diverse disabled people in our city. 

There are currently more than 17,900 social rented properties in Brighton & Hove. Brighton & Hove City Council’s social landlord duties cover approximately 11,700 rented properties and 2,900 leasehold properties. Brighton & Hove City Council remains the largest social landlord.

Housing sees approximately 4,000 homeless households each year who need help with housing. Early intervention and prevention work is reducing levels of homelessness however demand for assistance for homeless households remains high in the current year.

The number of households in temporary accommodation is high but reducing slowly.

Currently, there are 3,710 licensed Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) across Brighton & Hove.

The Private Sector Housing team received 2239 Requests for Assistance during the first half of 2022 to 2023.

A total of 497 homes are projected for completion between April 2019 and March 2023, including 343 homes which have already been completed. Specialist housing provision includes a commitment to treble Housing First units for homeless people with complex needs.

We continue to work toward our target of bringing over 160 empty private-sector homes back into use each year.

Key data:

• annual HRA rents and service charges of £63.9 million per year
• a capital programme of around £29.8 million a year to improve homes
• letting approximately 600 homes (over 50 per month)
• proposed investment pipeline of £270 million investment in new homes over the next 3 years to 2025 to 2026 the majority of which requires committee approval
• an average of over 2,000 repairs per month/66 repairs every calendar day in normal circumstances

 Families, Children and Learning Directorate (FCL) Directorate

The Families, Children and Learning Directorate brings together different services for children and young people as well as services for adults with learning disabilities (LD) and support for skills and employment. 

Governance, People and Resources (GPR) Directorate

Governance, People and Resources (GPR) supports council services to ensure that staff work as one council to better serve our customers, councillors, and staff, as well as optimising resources and ensuring robust governance.

Economy, Environment and Culture (EEC) Directorate 

The Economy, Environment and Culture Directorate works with city and regional partners to develop and deliver services that support low-carbon economic growth and maintain an attractive, connected, and well-run city for residents, businesses, and visitors. 

EEC helps to: 

• shape Brighton & Hove’s unique identity
• support community cohesion
• position Brighton & Hove as a distinctive place to live, work and visit

EEC leads a programme for Brighton & Hove to become carbon neutral by 2030, introducing long-term solutions to safeguard the planet for future generations.

Decarbonisation is an important driver for EEC’s work and there's a strong focus on measures that reduce carbon emissions from council buildings, land, fleet, city developments and transport infrastructure.

Health and Adult Social Care (HASC) Directorate 

Our mission as a directorate is to: 

• promote and improve health and well-being
• reduce health inequalities
• support people to live independent and fulfilling lives

We're strongly committed to developing and embedding accessibility and intersectional approaches and continuing to improve our disability inclusion and support to those who may be the most at risk of being excluded and impacted.

The Accessible City Strategy is available in various accessible formats, including

• Easy Read
• British Sign Language (BSL)
• Braille
• other languages

To request the Accessible City Strategy in another format or if you have any questions about the Accessible City Strategy:

• send an email to equalities@brigton-hove.gov.uk
• phone 01273 291 952
• text 07825 113 908

Turnaround times

Braille production will require a 3-week turnaround time from our suppliers and will be posted. 

BSL and Easy Read versions will be available online. Easy Read versions can be printed and posted within 2 weeks of contacting the team.

See an easy ready version on the Accessible City Strategy 2023.