Sharing the benefits of assistive technology

Scope and Virgin Media are focused on using technology to transform the lives of disabled people and their families across the UK.  Together we believe digital makes good things happen - for the 11 million disabled people in the UK, technology can provide a voice, enable people to live independently and unlock access to education and work.

From July 2015 to July 2017, the partnership’s objective is to reduce the barriers disabled people and their families face, through three national projects that have technology at their heart.

One of these projects is focused on inspiring independence. This is all about providing disabled people with access to assistive technology that enables them to communicate, control their home environment and independently access education and employment.

Part of delivering this project involves our new Assistive Technology Manager running outreach workshops. Our first workshop kicked off recently where we invited staff from a range of Scope services, who have no prior understanding or experience of assistive technology, to demonstrate to them the practical use of Assistive Technology and how it can help disabled people.

The workshop was run by the Head of Assistive Technology, Andy Hall, whose post is funded through the partnerships Inspire Independence project, as well as the team of assistive technologists based across Scope schools and college. The day gave attendees the opportunity to look at technology that’s currently available and chat about it with people who speak technology in plain English, giving staff the skills and confidence to deliver assistive technology to their service users.

Over 45 people attended, including Virgin Media people who have been involved in the wider Technology Innovations Forum. This is made up of Scope and VM people and meets regularly to share best practice and work on bespoke technology trails.

The next workshop (we have committed to six in total across the length of the partnership) will be taking place on 8 July in Manchester. This workshop will follow the same format as that from April, with the objective of up skilling people who have little or no knowledge of assistive technology.