SeeAbility was founded in 1799.
We've been providing
ambitious support for people
with sight loss, learning
disabilities and autism.
SeeAbility, working in
partnership with Microsoft
offers us the opportunity to provide
development opportunities
so that we can fulfill
our vision of equality and inclusiveness.
And the programme also gives
employees in social care
the ability to learn new
skills to further their careers
and have a greater sense of purpose.
Enhancing people with
learning disabilities'
digital skills was an innovative approach.
Then when the pandemic
happened, the fears were
how are we going to help those
that are going to be
isolating or shielding?
It was a matter of quickly establishing
what is the best way that we could
actually continue to support people.
So through the National Lottery
Coronavirus Support Fund
we set up Creating
Connections in partnership
with Learning Disability England.
Our aim was to really
get people connected.
We are step ahead of the
curve and supporting people
with learning disabilities
in order to bridge
that digital gap.
It's about accessibility.
And naturally we continue
to try and make sure
that everything that we do is accessible
for the people that we support.
It's about giving them
the time to support them,
to learn to connect to
things like Microsoft Teams
and use Microsoft products.
With Microsoft involvement we've received
additional accessibility training.
What this has then led
to is as a real kind
of up-skilling of our own workforce
which can then be passed on
to everybody that we support.
I am neuro-diverse myself.
So have a fair amount of lived experience
in terms of using assistive technology,
and just hugely see the value of it
for everyone that we work with.
Without the tech I don't think
I'd be functioning as I can today.
I use speech to text.
It means that I can take
part with all my colleagues.
There's no difference
really in what I can access
in terms of communications
to everybody else,
being able to talk
through things like Teams
reduces the amount of travel time,
reduces the environments
that I have to be in
from a sensory and processing perspective.
This is a lot more comfortable.
Creating Connections is
really great success,
in that the sheer volume of people
that now have have the
skills to be able to access
things online whether it's
to talking to their friends
and family through to being able
to actually look for a job
or go for a job interview.
Our Creating Connections programme
in partnership with
Microsoft will help to bridge
that digital divide for
people with disabilities.
And I'm not only excited
for us as a charity
but I'm also excited for
people with disabilities
and their families about
what the future can hold.