Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

The Irish Girl Guides welcomes members from all walks of life. The elements of fun, learning by doing, variety and general enjoyment in Guiding will provide an opportunity for the child with special needs to develop. Likewise, any adult with special needs who wishes to join as a Leader will benefit from her membership.

IGG's Equality Policy

The Irish Girl Guides is committed to the concept of a single sex association as offering the best opportunity for the development of girls and women in Ireland at present. IGG targets its youth programme to different age groups ranging from 5 to 26 years, and has a training programme for adult leaders.

Taking the example of the Equal Status Act 2000, the Irish Girl Guides prohibits discrimination on the grouunds of marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, disability, race or membership of the Traveller community. 

The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitee of IGG was set up on a National level in order to promote and encourage special needs within Guiding and also to provide support to our Leaders. Some of the aims of the committee are:

  • Promoting and encouraging the inclusion of girls and adults from all walks of life.
  • Raising awareness of all IGG members to the difficulties and challenges faced by certain target groups, such as people with disabilities, people with behavioural problems, people from low socio-economic backgrounds, people from all Faiths, members from the Traveller Community, people from minority ethnic groups.
  • Training IGG Leaders about these challenges and how to work with members from such target groups.
  • Training women from within the target groups to become IGG Leaders. 

The Committee is responsible for the Special Needs Grant which is advertised every year in Trefoil News.

Special Needs Grant

The grant is used to enable your members to participate fully in your Unit activites. For example, if the Unit needs specialised equipment for crafts or a lower table to accommodate someone with special needs, you can apply to your Region for the grant. It can also be used to help with purchase of uniforms, membership fees or subsidies for camp/holidays for disadvantaged members.

Registration Forms

All girls should be given a Personal Registration Form to be completed by them/their Parents/Guardians as soon as they join a Unit. This form has space for the Parents/Guardians to fill in details of their child's special needs. The form will provide you, the Leader, with important information on each child and should be treated confidentially by all Leaders in the Unit.

It is important to work closely with the Parents/Guardians of a child with special needs. It is also advisable to contact the specialist organisation for any condition you are dealing with in your Unit.

Organisations in Ireland

Arthritis Ireland www.arthritisireland.ie

Asthma Society of Ireland www.asthmasociety.ie

Aspire - The Asperger Syndrome Association of Ireland www.aspire-irl.org

Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland www.cfireland.ie

Coeliac Society of Ireland www.coeliac.ie

Deaf Hear www.deafhear.ie (formerly National Association for Deaf People)

Down Syndrome Ireland www.downsyndrome.ie

Diabetes Federation of Ireland www.diabetesireland.ie

Disability Federation of Ireland www.disability-federation.ie

Dyslexia Association of Ireland www.dyslexia.ie

Dyspraxia Association of Ireland www.dyspraxiaireland.com

Headway Ireland www.headwayireland.ie

Irish Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus www.iasbah.ie

Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists www.iaslt.com

Irish Cancer Society www.cancer.ie

Irish Council of People with Disabilities www.iol.ie/~icpd

Irish Deaf Society www.irishdeafsociety.ie

Art and Cultural Society of the Deaf www.iol.ie/~johnpmon

Irish Foster Care Association www.ifca.ie

Irish Haemophilia Society www.haemophilia.ie

Irish Heart Foundation www.irishheart.ie

Irish Kidney Association www.ika.ie

Irish Lung Foundation www.irishlungfoundation.ie

Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association www.imnda.ie

Irish Sleep Apnoea Trust www.isat.ie

Irish Society for Autism www.autism.ie

Irish Stammering Association www.stammeringireland.ie

Irish Wheelchair Association www.iwa.ie

Muscular Dystrophy Ireland www.mdi.ie

National Council for the Blind of Ireland www.ncbi.ie

Irish Blind Sports www.ibsports.ie

Riding for the Disabled Association Ireland www.rdai.org

Williams Syndrome Association of Ireland www.wsai.ie

Would you like further advice? The IGG Handbook contains a section in the Membership chapter called 'Working with Children with Special Needs' (pages 78-83).