Tokenism
Shame on the Alzheimer's Society:
Alzheimer's Society POLICY STATEMENT
"Alzheimer’s Society is committed to inclusion, equality and diversity, both as a service provider and as an employer. The Society is committed to people centred care and will take positive steps to include all people who may be affected by dementia in its services and support.
Our staff, volunteers and trustees are committed to a culture, which actively promotes inclusion, diversity and equality of opportunity for everyone. We are committed to challenging discrimination in relation to race, ethnic origin, religious belief, class, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability and age."
There is no demonstrable commitment 'which actively promotes inclusion'. It would seem instead that, once again, the Society is able to tick the right boxes so that it can achieve its fundraising aims. Look at the board of trustees, look at the senior management team, look at the patrons - how many people can you see who represent anything to do with inclusion or diversity?
It's no wonder that the LGBT Support Group volunteers "have recently chosen not to continue in their current capacity" when the Society was happy to let them provide their time and commitment to providing a service whilst not providing sufficient resources to support and to promote them. Another cynical and token gesture. The group was origianlly set up using money secured from a grant from Comic Relief (some joke) which paid for a full-time support worker for three years (although she was only employed for two years - where did the rest of the money go?) - now seems like squandering of public money.