Supporting Communities welcomed two new digital inclusion staff members to the team this past November.

Helen Maguire and Colin Patton are running the digital training strand of the ONSIDE Project, a joint piece of work we are collaborating on with Disability Action NI, the Housing Executive and the Independent Living Movement Ireland supported by the EU’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.

ONSIDE stands for Outreach, Navigation, Social Inclusion and Digital Engagement. The project aims to improve the health and wellbeing of disabled people by increasing their social and digital involvement in the community.

A wealth of evidence shows how positive relationships and shared activities contribute to our overall health and wellbeing. Evidence also shows how physical and attitudinal barriers created by society towards disability can create loneliness and social isolation. ONSIDE aims to address these issues and empower disabled people to become socially engaged.

The ONSIDE team identifies disabled people who are seeking to improve their health and wellbeing through increasing their social networks both in the community and online.

It fully supports participants through a tailored development plan suited to their wants and needs, identifying and addressing the barriers that make it harder for disabled people to access social networks in the community and online. The personal development plan offers participants independence, choice and control.

Supporting Communities is delivering an eight-week digital skills programme which will train, equip and support participants to become socially connected online.

Helen and Colin with a group of ONSIDE participants in Letterkenny

The project is based in eight geographic locations:

Sligo and Donegal
North West and North Donegal
Fermanagh and Omagh
Cavan and Leitrim
Dungannon and Armagh
Monaghan and Louth
Newry and South Down
Greater Belfast and Northern Region

Both Helen and Colin are excited to empower those with disabilities to become more socially engaged through technology. They have seen first-hand how people’s lives can be transformed when given the opportunity to learn a new skill online.

“I am pleased to be working on a project which has the potential to remove many of the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from making full use of technology and look forward to seeing how the project develops over the next few years.”
- Helen Maguire