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Topic:

  • Inclusive opportunities
  • Working with communities

Resource type:

  • Report

Date added to Learning for Involvement:

  • 18th July 2024

The NIHR Race Equality Public Action Group (REPAG) is a public-facing group committed to improving race equality in health and care research.

On 1 May 2024, REPAG hosted the Connecting Voices Conference. The conference was attended by patient and public involvement leads, researchers, health and care professionals, public contributors, directors of clinical practices, and research directors. 

The conference brought together diverse public contributors, speaking from their lived experience, to motivate service improvement in healthcare and research. 

The speakers and topics were: 

  • Royston John, Debunking intersectionality (Intersectionality in health and care research).
  • Fay Scott, Reflection piece.
  • Joyce Dutch, Living life in colour (Experiences of a neurodivergent person).
  • Alan Cheetham, Reality meets aspiration (The social model of disability).
  • Asima Akhtar and Farzana Khanom, In conversation (Healthcare from the perspective of Asian women).
  • Dee Cooper, Breaking the silence (Building trust with the Romany Gypsy community).

Public contributors worked closely with the REPAG leads in the build up to the conference to prepare. They were also given a choice to take part in Q&A sessions. 

Mental health support was made available to everyone as part of the opening housekeeping, as the topics of discussion could be challenging or triggering. 

The session was an online webinar, and attendees were asked to submit questions using the chat and Q&A tools. There were two breaks, featuring carefully selected musical pieces reflecting our humanity. 

Key insights and learning were captured visually during the conference. The visual summary and a range of different accessible formats are provided below. 

A digital illustration capturing key messages and actions from the Race Equality Public Action Group (REPAG) Connecting Voices Conference, held on 1 May 2024. Royston John opened the conference, talking about intersectionality and the need to pay attention to the whole person. Fay Scott read a self-authored poem to prompt self-reflection among the audience. Joyce Dutch shared her experiences as a neurodivergent person. Alan Cheetham spoke about progress in the social model of disability, from his own experiences as someone with a visual impairment. Asima Akhtar and Farzana Khanom spoke about discrimination and positive experiences in maternity services. Dee Cooper shared a self-authored poem about the experiences of the traveller and Romany community. In closing, conference attendees were prompted to share a commitment to action, following the conference.

Artwork created by Skye McCool. You can visit Skye’s website to find out about her services.

You may share the outputs, but do not change them in any way or use any component parts. We would appreciate if you attribute REPAG and Skye McCool when sharing.

Additional accessible formats

Text-only overview of the visual

A digital illustration capturing key messages and actions from the Race Equality Public Action Group (REPAG) Connecting Voices Conference, held on 1 May 2024. Royston John opened the conference, talking about intersectionality and the need to pay attention to the whole person. Fay Scott read a self-authored poem to prompt self-reflection among the audience. Joyce Dutch shared her experiences as a neurodivergent person. Alan Cheetham spoke about progress in the social model of disability, from his own experiences as someone with a visual impairment. Asima Akhtar and Farzana Khanom spoke about discrimination and positive experiences in maternity services. Dee Cooper shared a self-authored poem about the experiences of the traveller and Romany community. In closing, conference attendees were prompted to share a commitment to action, following the conference.

Audio description of the visual

This is an audio description of the visual summary of the conference. It is 11 minutes long. 

It is suitable for people with visual impairments, and anyone else who finds written content to be less accessible. The audio is accompanied by the visual. 

Individual speaker snippets

Below we present each talk in a separate visual. This might be helpful for some neurodivergent people, people who find the full visual too busy, or people wanting to share a particular topic on social media. 

A digital illustration capturing key messages from Royston John’s talk at the Race Equality Public Action Group (REPAG) Connecting Voices Conference, held on 1 May 2024. Royston opened the conference, talking about intersectionality and the need to pay attention to the whole person. Quotes included: “We want research for the people, not people for the research”, “meet people before creating research questions”, “pay attention to the whole person” and “persisting inaccurate beliefs influence care and outcomes”.

A digital illustration capturing key messages from Fay Scott’s talk at the Race Equality Public Action Group (REPAG) Connecting Voices Conference, held on 1 May 2024. Fay read a self-authored poem to prompt self-reflection among the audience. Quotes included: “We live our lives in colour, all of us, our lives intertwined”, “I ama human being, treat me as I am”, “I see hope, aspiration and purpose”, “tainted by history”.

A digital illustration capturing key messages from Alan Cheetham’s talk at the Race Equality Public Action Group (REPAG) Connecting Voices Conference, held on 1 May 2024. Alan spoke about progress in the social model of disability, from his own experiences as someone with a visual impairment. Quotes included: “Everyone’s live experience is different”, “attitudes to disability have shifted, used to threaten fmailies and children to behave, used to define and name people by their impairment”, “improved, but further to go for reality to meet aspriation”, “accessibility in healthcare facilities has improved, reduces worries, improves mental health, improves treatment and outcomes”, “triggers: talk to my partner while ignoring me, treating my disease but not the whole of me, it shouldn’t be up to me to call this out”, “what needs to change? Audible lifts, more parking, employ us, attitudes towards me as a blind person”.

A digital illustration capturing key messages from Asima Akhtar and Farzana Khanom’s talk at the Race Equality Public Action Group (REPAG) Connecting Voices Conference, held on 1 May 2024. Asima and Farzana spoke about discrimination and positive experiences in maternity services. Quotes included: “there needs to be a real want for change - no matter who you are, you should get the same level of service”, “ a woman’s most vulnerable time is labour and childbirth”, “we’re not receiving the same level of care or signposting”, “my experience was positive but I witnessed discrimination due to language”, “more support and information for evey woman to feel prepared - peer support workers, help mothers look after their health, breast-feeding”, “train midwives and healthcare professionals, care, empathy, cultural diversity, language”, “make patients aware of the system, our experiences means we should be at the heart of feedback”.

A digital illustration capturing key messages from Dee Cooper’s talk at the Race Equality Public Action Group (REPAG) Connecting Voices Conference, held on 1 May 2024. Dee shared a self-authored poem about the experiences of the traveller and Romany community. Quotes included: “I’ve never known a life without discrimination”, “things began to disappear”, “family, friends, the ones we trust”, “we will not leave, we’re here to stay”, “because of our nomadic lifestyle, healthcare provision was neglected, but now most of us are housed, yet still receive poorer healthcare”, “mental health crisis among men in GRT community”, “how can we engage? Builing trust in a context of centuries of mistrust, more visual and online approaches it’s other people’s fear of engaging us, not us not engaging , anxiety is seen as agression”.

 

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