'Is that discrimination?' publications panel

Are you an adviser, lawyer, information professional or policy worker with an interest in discrimination issues? We're looking to recruit interested professionals to take part in a steering panel, to help us to make sure that our discrimination publications adopt the right scope, tone and approach.

Progress towards equality: Reaching out to communities

ASA Advicenow is part of an EU and EHRC funded partnership project to raise awareness of equality and human rights issues. The partnership also includes AdviceUK, Citizens Advice and Law Centres Federation.

The aim of the project is to improve the capacity of individuals and communities to deal with discrimination issues, by building their awareness and understanding and giving them the confidence and skills to take action.

The project will operate on two main fronts:

• At a national level the Is that discrimination? website will act as a national focus for the campaign with new and updated guides and resources.
• At a local level we will support 11 local advice agencies to deliver public legal education (PLE) equalities projects to empower their local communities.

As part of this work we will deliver the following publications for the public:

• A new poster / postcard with one or two key messages pointing people to the Is that discrimination? website.

• A second edition of the awareness-raising magazine 'Sort it!' This doesn't look like a traditional advice leaflet and aims to raise awareness of discrimination amongst those who might not have considered it before. It can be distributed through advice agencies to other local groups and intermediaries and ideally be picked up in places like dentist waiting rooms and libraries etc

• An updated version of the guide 'Is that fair? How to recognise discrimination'. This in-depth guide is for people who think they may have a problem. It outlines the main discrimination rules and explains how to recognise if it's happening to you. It accompanies a guide called 'You don't have to put up with it! How to deal with discrimination' which explains routes to a solution and addresses the reasons people don't get help.

Expert panel

We are keen to form a small panel of people with an interest in discrimination issues or information provision to be involved in the production of the publications. Your input will be invaluable in helping us to ensure high quality and relevant publications.

We are primarily interested in feedback from you on the factual content and direction of the publications, as well as your views on how effectively we are meeting the needs of our readers.

If you're willing to be part of the panel we will contact you with drafts of the guides and give you an idea of when it would be helpful to have your comments back by. We understand of course that you are likely to be very busy so if we contact you and you are unable to help at that stage, please don't worry, we understand!

If you would like to take part in our panel please get in touch using the feedback form at the bottom of the page.

Many thanks!

More about our approach to information provision for the public

Advice Services Alliance (ASA) is the umbrella body for independent advice services in the UK. The Advicenow project was established to improve the range and quality of information on the law and rights. We focus on meeting the needs of the user in their situation.

We have carried out research into the effectiveness of information resources to help people manage legal problems. We believe that resources should include information on the issue itself; a guide to the actions to take; acknowledge the stress and emotions involved and explain the skills needed to manage the problem effectively. They should also encourage the reader to seek further advice and support and explain how to make best use of this.

You can read more about our research here: Reviewing and scoring information resources

March 2010