Client Profile: The Legal Aid Board
This week we profile another organisation who have really embraced disability inclusion in 2020 - The Legal Aid Board.
The Legal Aid Board is a statutory body which provides legal aid and legal advice in civil law matters for those who are eligible. They also provide a family mediation service and manage and administer various criminal legal aid schemes. With Law Centres all across the Republic of Ireland this is an invaluable service to those who find themselves in need of advice and support when it comes to civil, family and criminal matters.
Ability Focus started working with The Legal Aid Board in June 2020 when Brian Edwards, Manager in the Research, Learning & Development Unit contacted us with a view to delivering Disability Awareness training to employees from Law Centres throughout Ireland.
Brian worked with Ability Focus to co-ordinate the first Live Online Disability Awareness programme which was delivered via Zoom in mid-June. The programme was delivered to participants from many centres across the country, all tuning in from their remote working stations. As always, the programme was delivered in 4 x 1-hour sessions and involved a good deal of interaction.
Ability Focus delivered a second programme in late summer and are scheduled to deliver a third, more targeted programme in November on Reasonable Accommodation.
Where the Legal Aid Board really stood out to us was with the level of interest from individual participants on completion of each programme. At Ability Focus, we always encourage participants to email questions/comments on a one-to-one basis after each session. Participants from both training groups really took advantage of this, emailing questions and relaying their own stories in relation to disability and inclusion.
Also, the continual level of engagement from the L&D unit demonstrates a sincere commitment to embedding disability inclusion within The Legal Aid Board.
We would like to thank everyone who completed each programme as well as Brian Edwards who gave us a great testimonial below.
"Ability Focus provided Disability Awareness Training to our staff in the Legal Aid Board earlier in this year. As a manager in the Research, Learning and Development Unit, I am always seeking staff feedback. All of our staff who attended this course found it very engaging and thought provoking. So much so, that we arranged more sessions. We are very thankful that Ability Focus have been able to play a very important role in raising awareness in the area of Disability."
Brian Edwards
Manager. Research, Learning & Development Unit, Legal Aid Board.
If you are considering Live Online Disability Awareness Training for your organisation, please get in touch on (01) 699 1150 or email info@abilityfocus.ie
