Often, disability groups quite rightly want to attract members from BME communities onto trustee boards. However, just like the louder mouths in the disability movement, the louder mouths in BME communities come forward. Let's take a breath here....those who speak the loudest aren't always the true representatives of community groups and in many cases have personal axes to grind rather than have the wider views in mind. Such is usually the case when a disability group asks for members from other agencies to help represent the views of disabled people from BME communities....and to be fair, the same can apply vice versa. The wrong person on any board can slow down, deviate, if not halt progress. Yes, now you're thinking about your own group are you not?
There is also another dilema facing disability groups.....if we truly want to the views of all communities within our organisation at decision-making levels, how big must our board or even exec board be? Let's add more fuel to the fire....if you want a representative from the Asian community at trustee level, do you recruit someone from the Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Chinese community? You can bet your bottom dollar, one cannot speak on behalf of others with confidence.
The above are just two examples of why disability groups struggle to get membership from BME communities.
Feel free to : Agree? Don't Agree?
Amo
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