Claire Morgan 27/11/2024 Joe's Soapbox

Islamophobia month is very important.

Islam refers to a religion.

Those who practice Islam are often known as Muslims.

And a phobia means ‘irrational fear’.

Irrational fear is a fear that has no evidence to support it.

It makes me so sad that we live in a world where we exclude or blame groups within our communities for the problems society faces.

As people with learning disabilities, we know all about this.

Society should include many people who have different faiths and beliefs.

We don’t all need to be the same.

Society is much stronger when we embrace difference.

And include everyone.

One of the big priorities of All Wales People First is to be more diverse.

At the moment All Wales People First is not very diverse.

And we want to change that.

We want people with learning disabilities of all faiths and cultures to feel that All Wales People First is an organisation for them.

This is going to take a little time.

We have a lot of work to do.

But we are really keen to make this happen.

We hope to do this in our new Diversity Strategy which hopes to:

· Increase the diversity of our membership.

· Make All Wales People First a more inclusive organisation for staff of different backgrounds to work for.

· Give diversity training and awareness to our staff, board and members.

All Wales People First supports Islamophobia Awareness Month.

We hope you will too.