What's it like being a Pan Disability Digital Accessibility Member?

The Pan-Disability Digital Accessibility Group have been helping to co-design a digital tool to enhance CAMHS referrals in England. They have worked with us to ensure the tool is as accessible as possible for individuals with disabilities and/or specific diagnoses.

Our project advisory groups have met consistently since the start of the project to advise on research activities.

Two members of our PDDAG have shared their experience.

Cerys

I joined EN-CAMHS 2 PDDAG as, having had a lot of experience of CAMHS from a very young age, an opportunity to represent my disabled lived experience felt exceptionally important to me. It felt especially pertinent as online referrals, online accessibility, and digital capacity for mental health support is only becoming more important as young people continue to utilise the internet and digital tools. 

I feel that the EN-CAMHS PDDAG is important because disabled people – especially disabled younger people – can be sidelined in digital design, with experts often assuming that accessibility and usability needs have been met without consulting disabled people who use their tools or features.

The opportunity to have a range of disabled lived experiences brought together to ensure that EN-CAMHS 2 makes a real difference is a privilege, but also an exceptionally rewarding and enjoyable experience. I have been made to feel comfortable, heard, and accommodated throughout this entire experience, which shouldn’t be rare, but it still is. I’m extremely grateful to the team for making this such a great experience! 

Samuel

As part of my role as Disabled Students Officer at Edge Hill Students Union I was approached to be part of the EN-CAMHS digital advisory group. I learned a lot about how much time and effort go into getting the digital tools that we use every day right.

The best thing about taking part in work like this is being able to make a difference, using my own lived experience to help make things accessible and inclusive for others!

This type of work is so important so that people can access digital resources no matter what barriers they may face in everyday life! I really hope that my contributions to the project will help people with a visual impairment like mine to be able to access the digital tools in the future.

You can read more about the EN-CAMHS project here.