Community inclusion toolkit

Kylie Preston is the project manager for DSA and in this article she discusses the development of the new Community Inclusion Toolkit. The toolkit was developed by consulting people with Down syndrome and their families about the things that work best for them when accessing the community. The resources in this toolkit are designed to help community groups and others to support people to be included and participate in everyday activities.

‘Being inclusive is about finding, offering and supporting opportunities for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds, to participate, learn, contribute, and to belong. In practice, this may involve community organisations identifying the needs of a person with Down syndrome who wants to be included and coming up with strategies and ideas of how to make that happen.’

There are four toolkits:

• Employment
• Health
• Education
• Community and Sporting Groups

Each one is full of useful fact sheets, case studies and resources that you can use or share with health professionals, schools, workplaces or local clubs.

First published in Voice, August 2018.