Dear Colleagues,
Over the last several weeks UKDPC has received a number of emails from DPOs concerned about the Scope and Dial UK relationship. Below is the response issued exclusively to UKDPC by Alice Maynard, Chair of Scope, in relation to this matter:
UKDPC
There's been some ‘interesting’ stuff coming through my inbox recently. I have been alternately angered, frustrated, saddened and amazed by some of the things that have been said about Scope. So this is to try and set the record straight – or a least a little bit straighter – and if some of the frustration comes through, I hope you'll bear with me.
For those of you who don't know me, I am a wheelchair and personal assistance user, and I've been working in the disability field for 20 years. Some call me an activist. I certainly consider myself to be politicised and I am a strong advocate of the rights of disabled people to self determination and self organisation. And now I'm chair of Scope.
Why? Don't I have any self respect at all? Well, actually, I joined the board of Scope because I believe that this organisation is also a strong advocate of the rights of disabled people to self-determination and self organisation. Furthermore, I believe that because of, rather than in spite of, Scope's history, we have an important role to play in supporting disabled people and their organisations to achieve their rightful place in society.
In 2008, Scope 'bailed out' (as some would have it) DIAL UK. The rationale for this decision lay in our strategic goal to become a more credible and respectful ally of disabled people and their organisations. We recognised the importance of DIAL to disabled people and felt that it should not be allowed to go under. This was not an easy decision for us. At that point, we were crawling out of our own big financial hole, and the money we needed to put into DIAL was not easy to justify. Whatever anyone else thinks about this decision, I believe it was the right one to take at the time both the Scope and for disabled people.
Granted, after that we did precious little. We continued to fund the provision of support for the DIAL network and to maintain the services that had previously been provided by DIAL UK. But we singularly failed to deliver any additional value. We didn't invest in developing the services on offer, we didn't use our resources to build the muscle of DIAL UK and we didn't work hard enough to build understanding across the network of who, as Scope, we really are, what we stand for and our reasons for the merger. And, believe me, at this point I truly regret that.
Now, however, we are taking the proverbial bull by the horns and doing what we should have done three years ago. Our plans will enable increased support for DIAL groups. This is why I find it strange that we are receiving such negative press about it. It's as if there was a whole lot of resentment towards us that has lain dormant for three years because we were in a position to enable DIAL UK to continue to exist. Now it is suddenly bursting out.
So, in the face of some of the recent criticism levelled at us, I have to ask: what would you like us to do? Undoubtedly we have our current position because of some unfavourable advantages in the past. Our size and turnover, our ability to attract media attention, our ability to win tenders, a chain of high street shops – these are all advantages which Scope has because of our traditional charity history. We can’t undo that history. But it gives us an advantage that we genuinely want to use for the benefit of disabled people and their organisations. If Scope suddenly ceased to exist, would contracts, funds and journalists come flocking to the doors of Disabled People's Organisations? I would suggest not. Is it not better, therefore, for us to use our current position for the benefit of disabled people and their organisations?
That's what we're trying to do at the moment. In the recent Hardest Hit campaigning marches, Scope proactively applied resources to the campaign, but doggedly tried to keep our name out of the spotlight, unlike some other well-known organisations, studiously keeping our branding out of the event. I am proud to say that in May at the Hardest March you would not have seen a single Scope logo on display. We were there to support disabled people and their organisations, not to reap any PR or profile benefit.
Nor do we wish to damage the sustainability of Disabled People's Organisations. If there is business to be won in an area and a Disabled People's Organisation or DIAL group is going for that business then we would be delighted to consider partnering up. And if you want support with a tender, we would be happy to offer it if we can. We've made some mistakes in the past, most often due to genuine organisational ineptitude and lack of coordination rather than a deceitful intent to undermine Disabled People's Organisations. And we're working hard to show that we recognise where you are far better placed than us to deliver a particular service. We recently handed over all the business from our admittedly small scale disability equality training arm to an independent Disabled People's Organisation for just that reason.
So, if you have a problem with the things Scope does, tell us what we should be doing instead. If you don't see that our continued existence, the advantages we have gained, albeit unfairly, from our history, can be used for the benefit of disabled people and their organisations, tell us what you think we could be doing differently. Just do it directly. Talk to me or to my colleagues at Scope. You can e-mail me on Alice.Maynard@Scope.org.uk. Thanks.
December 2011.
