Blogs | Connected Voice

No Labels

Much has already been written on the dangers of giving people a label. Implicit in a label can be judgement, bias, stigma, and power imbalance. It can strip people of individual identity. So all of this can happen without intent, due to the complexity of language and how meaning is found in interpretation. This is why Connected Voice Advocacy is taking the label discussion seriously and rethinking how we communicate in written and spoken formats about the people we work with.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Me

As a cis-gendered, ethnically minoritised young woman with a hidden disability and a working-class background, I have first-hand experience of how an intersection of characteristics can create health, social and economic disparities.

Creating safer cultures through safeguarding

Sara Chezari, Connected Voice Support and Development Officer, talks about what it’s like delivering safeguarding training to voluntary community and social enterprise organisations, and how she supports organisations to help them foster a safer culture in our communities.

Tackling the Climate Emergency When You're a Small or Medium Sized Charity

Judith Temple, Office Manager at Connected Voice shares her challenges and tips when it comes to tackling the Climate Emergency in a small to medium sized charity.

Providing advocacy services to ethnically minoritised communities - and what we have learnt

As we are celebrating our 25th anniversary this year, we’d like to mark Black History Month during October by charting the course of our specialist Advocacy provision to people from ethnically minoritised communities over the last 20 years or so, and sharing our key learning around how to better meet the needs of our diverse communities.

Black History Month - An interview with Sihle from 2 Way Tenancy Solutions CIC

October is Black History Month so we thought it would be a great opportunity to showcase some of the amazing work of one of our Black-led member organisations and hear about what support they’ve received from the Connected Voice teams.

Advocacy support for people with Learning Disabilities

Many of our service users have learning disabilities and our advocates have a wide range of skills in recognising and responding appropriately to their needs. In Learning Disability Week we’d like to give you an example of the advocacy we provide – read Jennifer’s story

Advocacy support for people from LGBTQ+ communities

We are keen to make all our services accessible and responsive to people from LQBTQ+ communities and in Pride Month we’d like to give you a flavour of the advocacy support we provide. Read about Chris who has experienced discrimination and hate crime as a result of their intersectional identities of gender and disability.

How volunteering got me into Advocacy

In Volunteers Week Gill Edgar, Senior Advocacy Coordinator, tells the story of her journey through volunteering to becoming an Independent Advocate.