AAATE wish to understand how AT services have responded to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and associated crisis. This experience will be used to identify approaches for future planning of services to ensure that continuity and quality of service is maintained despite any future stress on service delivery systems in the future.

Understanding the factors that contributed to which mitigations were effective and why is an essential part of that process.

We want to learn from the experience of Covid-19 to ensure inclusive preparation for any future challenges which could disrupt communities and impact those who are most vulnerable in a disproportionate manner, to ensure that no one is left behind.

Such resilience testing has additional value in identifying “pain” points within systems, which may already have been weaknesses that reduced both effectiveness and efficiency.

Our survey will provide us with information to consider:

• What are the systemic issues that make access to AT vulnerable to current strains?
• What are the main changes that persons with disabilities have experienced in AT service delivery because of Covid-19?
• What coping tools and resources have been required and needed to respond to any lack of provision?
• To what extent have governments (national and local), civil society, and the private sector adapted practices to maintain services?
• To what extent could the experience of persons with disabilities shape future provision of AT during and after crises?
• What changes to systems could improve current levels of resilience and ensure future challenges are addressed?
  

The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete and has received ethical approval from the University of Glasgow. Your responses will help to shape recommendations for the future.

To take the survey:
Service providers: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PFSRWPG
AT Users: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PFNZRNV

This initiative has been possible thanks to the work of our members: Marion Hersh (University of Glasgow, Scotland), David Banes (Access and Inclusion Services Ltd, England), Claudia Salatino (IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, Italy), Silvio Pagliara (University of Warwick, England), Riccardo Magni (COAT onlus, Italy) and E.A. Draffan (University of Southampton, England).