To coincide with new findings about funding for disabled people in London, Carol Reid from member Youth Music shares what they’ve been doing to make their grants more accessible.
Be Accessible’ is one of Youth Music’s grant-making principles. Over the last few years, we’ve upped our game in pursuit of this aim. Here’s a summary of the story so far.
Accessibility training for the grants team
Training covered topics such as the social model of disability and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This was a great way of getting everyone to the same level of understanding. We followed by agreeing tasks with each member of the team, such as:
- Test our grant management system using screen reading software
- Audit our application materials for readability
This gave people a sense of ownership over the role they could play to improve access. Together, we produced an action plan for the team. We also assigned team access champions.
Application access fund
We offer Disabled applicants access funding to cover additional costs they might incur to make an application, for example employing a Personal Assistant.
- The amount ranges from £300 to £1,500 depending on the complexity of the application
- They get an answer from us within five working days, and we pay them within 2 weeks
- The process is designed to be quick and streamlined, with ‘assessment’ focussed on their eligibility and whether they are genuine
Our auditors had some questions about the fund at the start, given how accessible it is. But now they understand it, they are comfortable with it. Especially since volume of grants is low (in 21/22 we gave out ten awards totalling £7,110).
Accessible formats
We audited our website and application materials and came up with an accessible style guide.
- We ensure all our content is formatted for accessibility
- We use the ‘check accessibility’ function in Microsoft Office as standard, and the ‘Editor’ function in Word to check readability
Read more about accessible formatting from my colleague and team access champion.
At the same time, we’ve revised our application process so applicants can submit audio, video or presentation decks instead of the usual written summary. Online surgeries are now standard, and we are working towards video summaries across all our funds.
Representation
Our Reshape Music report explored the lived experience of Disabled musicians. We worked with them to interpret the findings and agree next steps. A key recommendation was to make funding application processes more accessible, and to involve Disabled people in decision-making.
When we refined our funds, we paid Disabled people to access audit our materials and participate in consultations. In recent recruitment we’ve worked with Disabled peoples’ organisations to get the word out about our vacancies. As a result our board, staff and freelance assessor team is now more representative of Disabled people.
Of course, there always more to do. But if we can remove barriers, we know the process will be easier for people, so we’re always motivated for more!