[community] Lived Experience Advisory Group

[John W (personal)]

It takes a long time to embed participatory design in large systems - such
as local government - but here is an example of one small, interesting step
forward: the [link] City of Toronto's Lived Experience Advisory Group
(LEAG).
<https://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=1b7ba457bc09a510VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD>

The label 'advisory group' is misleading, because the LEAG is not an
old-school, one-way information channel from people with real lived
experience to 'experts' who are supposedly more capable of understanding
what that lived experience means in a given context.

Instead, the LEAG is working with an inclusive design lens in which both
City staff and residents with experience of poverty learn to be allies, by
working alongside one another in practical ways that affect City policy and
programs. This means that staff can bring forward their own experiences of
exclusion and barriers, while residents can inform strategic policy using
their varied knowledge from multiple domains.

Not by any measure a perfect model, but interesting to keep an eye on.

cheers
j

*John D. Willis | **CMRP, MDes  *'
Inclusive design, strategy and research
Toronto CANADA

Web: www.jdwillis.ca
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/tojohnw
Twitter: @TOjohnw
Skype: johnwillis416