Constitution

§1 Title

§1.1 The Association shall be called “Disability Equality Professionals Association” (DEPA) hereinafter referred to as “The Association”.

§2 Aims

§2.1 The Association aims to:

§2.2 In order to do this, the Association aims to contact and support Disability Equality Licensees and Gallant2000 agents in encouraging Disability Equality Professional in their professional development endeavours and collaborating with all relevant organisations in order to effect the professional development opportunities.

§3 Membership

Individual Members

§3.1 Individual membership is open to all Disability Equality Professionals within the UK who meet the standards outlined in the Code of Ethical Practice.

§3.2 Membership shall not be transferable.

§3.3 Individual members shall not have voting rights.

§3.4 The Association aims to offer information, services and products to individual members.

§3.5 Individual membership will be automatically terminated upon subsequent failure to meet the Associations Standards.

Associate Members

§3.6 Associate individual or institutional membership is available to specific individuals who have completed the level 2 award or at the discretion of the Committee.

§3.7 Associate members will be able to access some, but not all, benefits of membership, at the discretion of the Committee.

§3.8 Membership shall not be transferable.

§3.9 Associate members shall not have voting rights.

§3.10 Associate membership may be terminated at the discretion of the Committee.

Founding Members

§3.11 George Rowley and Christina Sarginson are the founding members of the Association.

§3.12 Membership shall not be transferable.

§3.13 Founding members have full voting rights and power of veto.

Voting Members

§3.14 Voting membership shall be limited to those persons who are appointed as voting members by the Committee. All applications for voting membership shall be approved by the Committee. All applications for voting membership must be supported and endorsed by the founding members.

§3.15 Membership shall not be transferable.

§3.16 Voting members have voting rights.

§3.17 Voting membership may be terminated by voting decision of the founding members or by resignation of the voting member.

§4 Committee

§4.1 The management of the Association shall be undertaken by a Committee, which will consist of, the Chairperson, the Secretary and Treasurer together with any co-opted voting members appointed by the Committee. All applications for Committee membership must be supported and endorsed by the founding members.

§4.2 The Committee shall only consist of founding members and voting members.

§4.3 The founding members shall at all times form part of the Committee.

§4.4 The Committee may employ individuals outside the Committee to help fulfil their responsibilities.

§4.5 The membership of the committee will not exceed 10 inclusive of the Founding Members, Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer.

§5 Meetings

§5.1 There shall be a minimum of one Committee meeting per annum.

§5.2 Additional Committee meetings may be convened by the Committee when deemed necessary.

§5.3 Voting decisions shall be by a simple majority. All decisions must be supported and endorsed by the founding members.

§5.4 A quorum for a Committee meeting shall consist of one third of the Committee.

§6 Constitution

§6.1 The Constitution will be reviewed by the Committee at least annually. All changes to the Constitution must be supported and endorsed by the founding members.

§6.2 Any Committee members may propose changes to the Constitution by submission of formal proposals to the Committee through the Chairperson.

Version 1(20/9/06)

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