From 16th March 2020, GDA suspended all planned programmes due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The staff team switched to home working, and immediately began reaching out to our 5,000+ disabled members to listen and offer support, through phone calls, postal mails outs and online. We were extremely lucky that our funders allowed us to redirect resources and employ a fantastic team of temporary workers to help us make over 8,000 phone calls, send out 20,000 mail shots, and collect 2,100 in-depth responses to our COVID-resilience survey within the first 4 months.
Our well developed infrastructure as a community of identity allowed us to connect with over 6,000 disabled people during these months, and the time and lived experience contributed by our members enabled us to adapt our services, rapidly develop new ones to fill gaps and meet emerging needs during the crisis and beyond.
![GDA resilience engagement and response: Snapshot 20 March - 31 July.Disabled people said: 80% Not aware of local supports they could access
41% struggled to find accessible info in formats needed
Engagement: 6000+ wellbeing check-in calls made
20,000 mail outs of accessible information
2500+ calls received to GDA helpline
5000+ connected to information and support
[picture of a phone]Lifeline Support
Disabled people said: 47% worried about access to food or medications
57% worried about money nad hardship
1251 deliveries of food, medication and essentials
137 people support with Welfare Rights
£191,115.47 gained for disabled people [picture of a piggybank]Supporting Wellbeing and
Resilience
Disabled people said:
90% worried about their physical or mental health
47% Worried about their social care support300+ people given in-depth support from our new Wellbeing Service [Picture of a hand and a heart above it]
86 Online Health & Wellbeing sessions: chair based exercise, tai chi, mindfulness, relaxation, coping with anxiety.
57 received 'Future Visions' support: one on one peer support or coarching around their social care need.Building Connections and Digital InclusionDisabled people said:82% worried about isolation
60% are digitally excluded
[Picture of a finger pressing a tablet]
200+ learners took part in 218 online learning, discussion and peer support sessions
393 people received digital support calls
188 skills up to join GDA online learning and events
173 eceiving coaching and / or equipment to get online.](https://gda.scot/app/uploads/2021/03/Stats-from-March-July-320x215.jpg)
- We adapted our Rights Now Welfare Rights project, Future Visions support and Learning programme, to be delivered remotely online and by phone. Over 2020 and 2021, events and programmes were almost entirely mainly online with face to face returning tentatively at the start of 2022. Online options continue for those with extreme social anxieties, without adequate supports to be able to attend or for those who do not have enough protection from the vaccines.
- We quickly set up a new Lifeline service, delivering food and essentials to over 2,800 disabled people unable to access other supports. This continued for much smaller numbers of disabled people facing complex barriers e.g. social care cuts, until summer 2022.
- Our check-in calls developed into a specialist Wellbeing service, with 3 Wellbeing workers supporting hundreds of disabled people to cope and feel heard, and develop strategies to boost their health and wellbeing during these challenging times. GDA Wellbeing continues to present with 2 Wellbeing staff.
- GDA became one of Connecting Scotland’s first pilot communities, helping develop an accessible approach to tackling digital exclusion when disabled people most needed it. Over the period and continuing, GDA Connects has sourced, set up and distributed over 500 devices to disabled people, alongside dedicated coaching to help participants get online.
