What is DET?

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What is Disability Equality Training (DET)?
Disability Equality Training is a participatory process to learn about disability as discrimination for all disabled people.

Disability Equality Training courses are designed and delivered by the people who have direct experience of discrimination i.e. qualified disabled trainers who experience disability as a form of social oppression and therefore truly understand the reality of living in a disabling society.

DET is developed in 1980s in the Disabled People’s Movement. Based on the direct, collective experiences of disabled people, recognising that the problem is one of institutionalised discrimination, DET puts emphasis on “action”: i.e., making changes within working environments & society, by looking at the barriers within the workplace & encouraging participants to form a plan of action to remove the barriers.

DET is about:
The Social Model of Disability;
Disabled people leading the training;
Examining the barriers faced by disabled people in society;
Questioning stereotypes, myths and misconceptions about disabled people;
A commitment to change.

DET is not about:
Making non-disabled people feel guilty;
Non-disabled professionals discussing Disabled people’s lives;
Disabled people recounting their life story;
Simulating physical, sensory or mental impairments;
Giving information about specific medical conditions.

(from Liz Carr, Paul Darke, and Kenji Kuno (2008) Training Them and Us: A Guide to Social Equality for Society, Utusan Publications, Kuala Lumpur.)

More details can be learnt from here.