On 3 December 2009, International Day of Disabled People, the Commission announced its intention to conduct a formal Inquiry into the actions of public authorities to eliminate disability related harassment and its causes. This Inquiry will cover England, Scotland and Wales.

The Commission's Inquiry powers enable them to collect evidence, call witnesses and make recommendations against which they expect action to follow. Before collecting evidence, the Commission needs to set out exactly what the Inquiry will investigate. They are therefore consulting disabled people and other stakeholders on their draft terms of reference. You can give your views on these draft terms of reference through an online consultation.The consultation will close on Friday 26 March 2010.

If you would like to participate, please go to the online consultation.

As an alternative to completing the online consultation, The Equality and Human Rights Commission are holding four events in England and Wales for disabled people who may find it difficult to respond to the online consultation and would prefer to give their views to the Commission in person.

Event Details

The events will take the form of workshops with facilitated small group discussions.

NB: These events will not be gathering evidence for the inquiry. They can only begin gathering evidence for the actual inquiry once final terms of reference are published.

London

Date: Tues 23 March 2010

Venue: Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre, 108 Stamford Street,South Bank, London SE1 9NH

Time:12 - 3pm

Facilitator: Mike Smith, EHRC Commissioner

Booking closing date: Tuesday 16 March

Manchester

Date: Wed 17 March 2010

Venue: Breakthrough UK, Business Employment Venture Centre, Aked Close, Ardwick, Manchester M12 4AN

Time: 12 - 3pm

Facilitator: Mike Smith, EHRC CommissionerBooking

Closing date: Wednesday 10 March

Swansea

Date: Friday 5 March 2010

Venue: Liberty Stadium, Landore, Swansea, SA1 2FA

Time:12 - 3pm

Facilitator: Rhian Davies, EHRC Wales Committee

Booking closing date: Friday 26 February

Llandudno

Date: Wed 10 March 2010

Venue: Conwy Business Centre, Junction Way, Llandudno JunctionLL31 9XX

Time: 12 - 3pm

Facilitator: Gareth Foulkes, EHRC Wales

Booking closing date: Wednesday 3 March

Lunch will be provided and they will be able to reimburse reasonable travel expenses - please ask for details when booking your place. BSL interpreters and palantypists will be available at each event.

Please contact them if you require this invitation or booking form and directions in an alternative format.

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Contact details are as follows:

Email:disabilityharassmentfi@equalityhumanrights.com, telephone 020 3117 0231, textphone 020 3117 0238 or write to:

Disability Harassment Inquiry
Stakeholder Relations
Equality and Human Rights Commission
3 More London Riverside
Tooley Street
SE1 2RG