OVERVIEW OF DISABLED WOMEN IRELAND DISCUSSION GROUPS
There are many different aspects to DWI, the work that we do, and the community that we are building. To organise those different aspects, as well as create space for us to chat and get to know one another, we have created various discussion groups.
No matter how much or little experience you have in a particular area, you will be more than welcome to any DWI Discussion Group you are interested in - Discussion Groups are collaborative and can be a great opportunity to develop some new skills! You are also very welcome to come along to meetings to get an idea of what each Decision Group is like before becoming more actively involved. There is absolutely no pressure to contribute. Sometimes, having an extra person to run ideas past is the most important part of these groups!
Below is a list of all our discussion groups, and a description of what each one does. We have also included the email addresses relating to each discussion group if you want to find out more.
Policy and Advocacy
The Policy and Advocacy (P&A) Team develop all of our policy and strategic planning, report to committees and prepare submissions. In the past few months, the P&A team made a submission to the review of the Equality Act, to the Oireachtas Disability Matters Committee and on the Initial Draft State Report on the UN CRPD. P&A members also sit on advisory groups with other organisations to make sure the voices of disabled people are heard wherever policies are being written which affect us.
You don’t have to be good at writing reports to be a real asset to our Policy and Advocacy team, of equal importance are the people who are passionate about advocacy issues who can make sure we’re aware of the important issues in each area so that DWI can represent all our members strongly.
Email address: DWI.Policy.Advocacy@gmail.com
Campaigns
In pre-Covid times, DWI used to attend other demonstrations as a group – the Campaigns team looked after organising this to make sure that all of our members could take part as well as planning specific DWI actions both online and in person. Our #DisabilityIsntADirtyWord campaign was very successful and was even spoken about in the Dáil!
If you are a creative thinker and are interested in helping to create future campaigns like this or want to plan direct actions Disabled Women Ireland can take to make sure disability issues remain on everyone’s agenda, come along to our Campaigns meeting to get involved.
Communications
The Communications (Comms) team coordinate spokespeople, respond to media queries, write press releases and are in charge of Disabled Women Ireland’s social media channels, graphic design, videos and website – anything that gets DWI’s message out there!
Recent work has included updates to our website and a press release demanding an independent investigation into the secret files the Department of Health have created on autistic children and their families.
Email address: DWI.CommsTeam@gmail.com
Administration
A huge amount of work goes into keeping DWI working – and we are hoping to get some reinforcements to keep us all on track! The Administration (Admin) team manage membership records, the newsletter, mailing lists and email enquiries and will strategise on ways to keep the membership better informed and engaged with DWI's work.
The Admin team support the work of all the other Discussion Groups and link them all together, so if you’re someone who likes the chance to be involved in a little bit of everything, Admin might catch your interest!
Email: disabledwomenireland@gmail.com
Membership Development
We are a growing organisation, and the Member Development (MD) team takes the lead on finding new members, designing and delivering training to help our members learn the skills they’re interested in so that everyone has the support they need to choose how they want to get involved with DWI’s work or to take on leadership roles.
The MD team also works to develop and build a community of disabled people within and around DWI. Sometimes the most important part of advocacy is just facilitating getting people to know others with similar life experiences. As we grow, the MD team will also take responsibility for the social life of DWI online, and so will work closely with the Comms team!
We miss being able to go to the pub, or have brunch with a whole bunch of disabled legends – but we hope to find online ways to recreate this rather fun and important space and have lbe launching our book club on 9th June 2021.
If this sounds like your thing, the MD Team is for you!
Email: DWI.Members@gmail.com
Partnerships and Outreach
One thing we have learned over the last while is that people can’t get enough of us. We get a lot of requests from external organisations of all kinds – and the Partnerships and Outreach (P&O) team look after this. They also build relationships with ally and partner organisations to support other marginalised communities and to provide support to disabled members of these ally organisations as well as building relationships with DPOs in other countries to build international solidarity in the fight for disability justice.
The P&O team represent Disabled Women Ireland at events, panel discussions and conferences, work on joint projects and build positive working relationships with other organisations and deliver training workshops to partner groups who want to improve their accessibility and become better disability rights allies. If you enjoy intersectional partnership and finding creative ways of working together, Partnerships and Outreach might be the place for you!
Email: DWI.Partnerships@gmail.com
Fundraising/Funding:
We are an all-volunteer organisation, and have mainly been covering our costs out of our own pockets, but over the next year we want to change that. The Fundraising team will be raising funds through fundraising actions, but also through grant applications. We are looking to grow as an organisation and need money to do it. Alongside this, we want to be able to be more inclusive and accessible so we need to secure funds to have ISL at all our events and to support other accessibility initiatives.
Email: DWI.Finances@gmail.com