Accessibility
Accessibility is important for everyone, not just people with disabilities.
Trying to read a non-responsive website on a phone with a terrible data signal shows that accessibility can also be situational. We make our website accessible because we care about equity and social justice. We also do it because it improves our content and makes stronger campaigns.
To achieve this we have followed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) produced by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) – the web’s governing body.
As far as technical components are concerned we have aimed for ‘Level A’ compliance with WCAG, but we haven’t necessarily followed all the checkpoints as some are no longer relevant or have been demonstrated to get in the way of accessibility.
We aim to provide text alternatives for every non-text element on our website. If you spot something that does not have this, please get in touch with us at ellen@greennewdealuk.org and use ‘Accessibility’ as the subject line, so we can get back to you as quickly as possible.
Inclusivity policy
At Green New Deal UK we want to create brave spaces for everybody.
A brave space encourages dialogue. Recognizing that there are differences in the oppressions we experience, holding each person accountable to do the work of sharing experiences and coming to new understandings – a feat that’s often hard, and typically uncomfortable.
GND UK brings together a diverse group of people who are creating an ambitious national plan to tackle climate breakdown while creating a fair society that works for everyone. Including all voices is central not only to the world we want to create, but to the way we get there. It is vital to both our goal and our process.
GND UK seeks to create a movement where dialogue and learning are key, where there is respect, understanding and kindness as well as a recognition of difference and mutual accountability.
We have high expectations of how we behave towards each other in our meetings, actions and social spaces. We recognise that our ambition to be inclusive requires us to pay attention to a diversity of voices, including those who may not yet be active in our movement.
In doing this we will:
- Organise actions and initiatives that explicitly connect to the issues of working class people, people of colour, people from LGBTQ+ communities and people with disabilities. Inclusion will form a core element of all our planning.
- Actively seek to widen the circle – being thoughtful about and including the experiences of people who may not yet be involved in our movement and take steps to reach out and engage as widely as possible, using the widen the circle checklist as a guide.
- Make space for these groups to lead and organise around their concerns and priorities.
- Acknowledge that we are all shaped by our backgrounds and experiences – that might be a racist, patriarchal environment or it might be an environment where we are subject to systemic racism or other forms of oppression.
- Place the responsibility for this situation with the system, not the individual. However, we will also recognise that each person has the responsibility and opportunity to change and be transformed through learning about systemic exclusion.
- Be supportive to one another in our journey towards inclusion. Hubs and local organisers will have access to training and support on this journey through the hub support team.
See our Campaign Guide for more info, including some resources in our Inclusivity toolkit.
