At SeeAbility we believe that no-one should feel isolated. That’s why we’re ambitious in creating opportunities for people with learning disabilities, autism and sight loss to be in charge of their own lives, develop essential skills and share their voices.

Technology has become central to all parts of life, but many disabled people feel digitally excluded due to skills barriers and financial hurdles. This lack of digital inclusion increases the social and economic disadvantages that people with disabilities already face.

The pandemic had a serious impact too, often leaving people with disabilities feeling disconnected, isolated and disadvantaged.

Over a third of people with a learning disability surveyed after lockdown said they felt lonely nearly always or all the time.

Our rapid response digital inclusion programme, Creating Connections, launched in September 2020 to urgently support people most at risk of loneliness and digital exclusion, and develop a model approach for other organisations and groups to copy.

We support people with learning disabilities, autism and sight loss, as well as their frontline support teams, to gain digital skills and knowledge. Creating Connections has grown into a network of 24 self-advocacy group partners to help us grow the reach of the programme to people with learning disabilities across the UK.

The project is delivered in partnership with Learning Disability England and thanks to the support of Microsoft, we have been able to continue our Creating Connections programme throughout 2021 and 2022. This means we can continue to harness the power of technology to end loneliness and exclusion, bridging the disability divide.

Darren is a SeeAbility support worker:

“We live in such a digital age where everything is online, so to have the skills and to be able to use it can open up so many doors and avenues, so people we support can achieve so much more, have more person-centred support and greater independence.”

In the last year, we’ve reached over 3,000 people who draw on social care and those who support them, through peer connections, training, free resources and volunteer support. This has had a huge impact on everyone involved, meaning people can now make more connections, grow their social circles, make more choices for themselves and live more independent lives.

• 2,375 people with learning disabilities digitally upskilled.
• 842 people working in social care digitally upskilled.
• 483% increase in the number of people feeling confident online.
• 20 people becoming peer to peer digital champions.

We’ve seen a huge growth in aspirations of people we support through the programme, with more people using the internet to gain more independence.

"I want to develop my online skills to help me manage my responsibilities."

"I'd like to do a media course to get better at vlogging."

Creating Connections is having a real impact on people’s lives, and our ongoing partnership with Microsoft means our ambition of greater digital inclusion for people with disabilities is growing ever closer.