Our Media Enters New Corporate Partnership with West of England Centre for Inclusive Living

Published: 28 Mar 2023

Our Media Ltd, the Bristol-based specialist content company, and award-winning user led organisation West of England Centre for Inclusive Living (WECIL), has announced a corporate partnership for 2023, as WECIL support Our Media on their journey to become a ‘Disability Confident Leader’ through consultancy and training.

This new partnership will provide funding to WECIL’s business services Social Enterprise Disability.Inc, which is then gifted back to the charity to financially support the free services that WECIL offer to Disabled adults, children and young people.

A key element of the partnership will be supporting Our Media with recruitment processes and auditing the accessibility of job adverts and careers pages, insight days, work experience placements, mentoring, and training.

Alison Browning, Disability.Inc. Business Partner says, “We are delighted to be working with Our Media on their inclusive journey. WECIL has developed a range of highly effective training, consultancy and Access Audit services, that we provide to organisations to support them in creating workplaces and service offerings that are totally inclusive of Disabled People. These commercially traded activities provide huge impact, effecting systems change in employment and removing barriers, physical or otherwise, that exclude Disabled People from benefiting from business and services”.

Andy Marshall, Group MD at Our Media comments, “WECIL is a fantastic organisation, and we are looking forward to working together. It's an important partnership for us as we ensure we're adopting fully inclusive recruitment processes, and that our disabled staff have the best working environment and are completely supported”.

Ezzy Pearson, Chair of Our M.I.N.D., Our Media’s disability network group comments “It’s so heartening to see Our Media committing to working with an organisation like WECIL. Disabled people have a huge amount to offer and can bring unique and innovative insight. I am looking forward to seeing this unlocked throughout the company. Making the business more inclusive will benefit all of us in the company, as accessibility is for everyone.”

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITOR:

About Our Media

Our Media is a Bristol-based leading special-interest content business, home to market-leading brands in craft, cycling, science and nature, homes and music.

Our Media’s much-loved brands include BBC Science Focus, BBC Wildlife Magazine, YourHome, Gathered.how, BikeRadar and Cycling Plus.

About WECIL

WECIL is now one of the largest Centres for Independent Living, or CILs, in the country. We are a Disabled People’s Organisation – meaning that we are controlled by and provide services for Disabled People across Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

Disabled People’s Organisations are:

• Founded on, and guided by, clear values of independence, inclusive involvement and peer support

• Controlled by Disabled People through leadership of decision-making

• Uniquely identified by the direct lived experience and full inclusion of Disabled People