Integral to this ethos has been ensuring that all our staff (both Orchestra and Head Office) have attended Disability Equality Training. Although the pandemic has made in person training very difficult, new starters to the BSO have recently attended a Zoom Disability Equality Training session with Tony Heaton, OBE. We asked Tony why this training is so important…

‘The key word in Disability Equality Training is Equality. Once people understand disability from the point of view of barriers and exclusion; that is, from the perspective of the Social Model of Disability, that disability can be seen as a social construct, then they can collectively begin as active participants to effect change. This positive and progressive change then becomes the starting point for the building of an inclusive organisation’

And Tony’s training sessions are highly valued by the whole team at the BSO. It is important to have such specialist knowledge on hand to facilitate learning about barriers to inclusion, and to ensure that as an organisation we can all become active participants in organisational change. Jenny Wingfield, the Orchestra’s Head of Human Resources, said…

‘This training is incredibly important to the BSO and core to ensuring all employees are culturally on board and understand their role in diversity and inclusion. In lockdown we took the decision to continue with the training and therefore a group of new starters attended the session via Zoom. Tony Heaton, who has received an OBE for his services to the arts and to disability arts led the session and the insight and expertise he brings to the training is truly invaluable’

Catherine Hoolihan, BSO Participate Co-ordinator, spoke about what she found most useful in the session…

‘I was very grateful to receive Disability Equality Training with the company, as inclusion is core to the work we do. Tony was a fantastic host and welcomed everyone’s questions while providing a thorough overview of inclusion in the workplace. I found the most useful part was having members of BSO Resound join. Their contribution to the discussion and their differences of opinions on certain subjects has made me more aware of identifying barriers to inclusion and will enable me to work more effectively with disabled performers and visitors in the future.’

To read more about our Change Makers programme click here

To read about BSO Resound’s latest project working with Shirley J Thompson click here