Current policy encourages the involvement of children and young people in matters that affect them, however the participation of disabled children and young people has not increased correspondingly.
The three-year project will consider the most effective ways of enabling disabled children and young people to participate in developing services. It will involve consultation exercises with organisations working with disabled children and young people to ascertain current practices. Additionally, detailed case studies on organisations with good participation practice will be conducted, in order to look at ways to embed this within common practice.
Helen Wheatley, assistant director of CDC, said: "Disabled young people are often denied the right to participate in important decisions that affect their lives. We are delighted to receive Big Lottery funding, allowing us to build upon the capacity for disabled young people to participate in the research process."
