Joining Inclusion Scotland: new categories

In 2019 our Board of Directors decided to make some changes to what was then known as our membership categories. This was to address some confusion over the categories amongst members about what being a member actually meant. In particular, there was confusion over who could vote at our general meetings.  That is because we called everyone that joined Inclusion Scotland members even though only full members, i.e. member Disabled People Organisations (DPOs) could actually vote at general meetings or indeed, nominate people to our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors decided to make this clearer by changing the category names.  This was agreed at our AGM on 30 October 2019.

The categories of people who join Inclusion Scotland are now as follows:

Members This category is for Disabled People’s Organisations. These are organisations that are led by disabled people. That means that the majority of people on the governing body are disabled people. They work with the social model of disability to promote disabled people’s human rights. As always before, only organisations in this category can nominate people to be elected as Directors of Inclusion Scotland or vote at Annual General Meetings.

Associates This is the category for individual disabled people.  Associates do not have voting rights but as disabled people they have a crucial role to play in our organisation. We try to encourage individual disabled people to join our member Disabled People’s Organisations so they can have more of a say in the running of Inclusion Scotland. They might even end up on our Board of Directors. 

Affiliates This is the category for disability organisations that are not led by disabled people. We really need these organisations on board because they are best placed to pass on information to disabled people.  We hope that with the support of Inclusion Scotland, these organisations will encourage and facilitate more disabled people to play a role in their governing structures. They might even become Disabled People’s Organisations themselves in time.

Supporters This category is for organisations that aren’t disability organisations of any sort and for non-disabled people.  Examples of organisations that might come within this category are housing associations or welfare rights agencies. It might also include private sector organisations. Organisations in this category might want to improve their services for disabled people. They will learn a lot about how to do that from being involved in Inclusion Scotland.  Individuals might include carers or family members of disabled people but also anyone with an interest in disability, human rights and/or equalities issues.