Consulting the consulted – A review of consultation on disability issues

Consultation of the views of the public and interested groups on the intentions and outcomes of government and public sector institutions is now an integral feature of the policy making process. What, however, is less certain is the value and effectiveness of these consultations both from the perspective of the policy-maker and those who are ‘consulted’. This paper therefore seeks to examine the issues surrounding the consultation process through a project the Community Operational Research Unit undertook, which reviewed the effectiveness of consultation between Access/disability groups and the public sector at a local and national level. The paper will equally reflect on the project's community research path beginning in very localised ‘roots’ in one participant's experiences of consultation, leading to local and national surveys and finally to presentation of the findings to the All Party Disability Group at Westminster.