The Disabled community led the call for ‘nothing about us, without us’, but campaigns and services continue to be designed without the leadership and
insight of Disabled people. Micro- to medium-sized Deaf and Disabled People-led Organisations (DDPOs) cannot access appropriate technology for data collection and community engagement. They are stuck between old, unfit technology and new tools that require technical know-how. This has been exacerbated by lockdown and the reduction of services. The disability network has a data and engagement gap.
Talk-Kit.org steps in to bridge this gap. Co-produced with 12 British DDPOs and Deaf and Disabled people themselves and in partnership with Inclusion London, Catalyst and CAST, it offers DDPOs an accessible digital suite of practical tools to amplify the voices of their communities.
On Our Radar is a specialist group of journalists, technologists, digital storytellers, and development practitioners. For the past decade, we have worked with marginalised communities to amplify their voices, surfacing stories from unheard groups worldwide. Talk Kit hosts all our learning about setting up and managing community research and reporter networks. It offers accessible training, step-by-step guides, and inspirational case studies.
Talk Kit offers Disabled people tools to collaborate on mutual ground, to decide what issues to focus on and create solutions. It enables DDPOs to collect data and engage with their communities, growing their confidence, connectivity, capacity, and conviction. In charge of their own stories – good and bad – the toolkit shifts the power and catalyses a move to inclusive storytelling, decision-making and positive change.
In our project, we conducted a rapid review and user-testing sprint with DDPOs and Disabled user-testers to shape a new iteration of the toolkit. This includes an accessibility toolbar, videos with Closed Captions and British Sign Language interpretation, Easy Read summaries and a clear, screenreader and keyboard-navigation-friendly structure.
1.8 – Project Spotlight: Dementia Diaries from On Our Radar on Vimeo.
