Listen Include Respect
- Ending discrimination
- Inclusive participation & citizenship
There are more self-advocate leaders than ever working for change. But people with intellectual disabilities are still often left out of the work that affects them. Many organisations want to include people with intellectual disabilities. But they often don’t know what support people need to take part.
What is Listen Include Respect?
Listen Include Respect is our programme to support organisations with practical advice on including people with intellectual disabilities in their work.
Our work is based on the Listen Include Respect Guidelines. We wrote and launched the guidelines in 2022 with our partners, Down Syndrome International.
The guidelines are built on our members’ own experience of the barriers they face and what good practice looks like.
We consulted:
- 1,500 people
- in 60 inclusive consultations
- across 100 countries
- with 350 contributing organisations
Implementing the Listen Include Respect guidelines have fundamentally transformed [us] from an organisation that works for people with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities to one that works with them.
Down Syndrome Society Bangladesh, Inclusion International member organisation
How do organisations use Listen Include Respect?
Since 2022 these guidelines have been used and endorsed by our members and partners, development organisations, UN agencies and governments.
They have become standards on how to support meaningful participation of people with an intellectual disability.
They have been used by organisations for:
- work with governments, from advocacy to supporting inclusive practices in joint work
- internal work to make their Boards work in a more inclusive way
- designing and running inclusive projects
- hosting inclusive meetings and events
- planning inclusive communications, surveys, and websites
- and more!
The Listen Include Respect guidelines had a significant impact…[they] strengthened our approach to active listening, meaningful participation, and person-centered support, while also validating the use of Plain Language as a key tool for promoting autonomy and access to information.
Instituto Jo Clemente, Brazil, Inclusion International member organisation
Using Listen Include Respect
The Listen Include Respect Guidelines are free for anyone to use. It includes detailed how-to guides, templates, and examples for inclusive work.
We also offer extra support to our members and partners.
Our Listen Include Respect programme work supports Inclusion International Members through:
- Delivering in-person or online training on how to implement the Listen Include Respect Guidelines
- Delivering train-the-trainer events to equip members to support others to transform their organisations
- Providing mentorship to emerging Listen Include Respect champions, including mentorship by and for self-advocate inclusion experts
- Hosting learning events, like the Listen Include Respect Summer School
- Supporting a member-only discussion group on Listen Include Respect, to connect members learning how to use the guidelines and to provide a space for peer learning and sharing what works.
- Providing advice and guidance on demand
We also partner with organisations outside of our network who want to include people with intellectual disabilities in their projects, but aren’t sure where to start. When organisations bring Inclusion International onboard as a project partner, we support them by:
- Using the Listen Include Respect principles to co-design the project to be inclusive from the beginning
- Connecting them with self-advocates from our network to join the project management team
- Providing advice and support on inclusion and accessibility at all stages of the project
- Connect you with Inclusion International member organisations who can support your in-country work
Listen Include Respect’s project methodology can support projects on any topics – recent project partnerships using Listen Include Respect include work on humanitarian action, political participation, legal capacity and sexual and reproductive rights, and more!
Support our Work
Demand for understanding inclusive practices is growing. Governments and organisations are asking Inclusion International member organisations for help to become more inclusive, but we need support to help them do this.
Our members need training, resources, and mentorship to transform their own organisations and mentor others in their countries to do the same.
Help us create more champions for inclusion by:
- Funding Listen Include Respect training and mentorship
- Funding the development of new tools, resources, or guides
- Funding the translation of Listen Include Respect Guidelines to additional languages