Transcript: Go ON Gold video, Diane Mulligan OBE.

Diane Mulligan, recipient of an OBE for services to disabled people, talks to Go ON Gold.

“I currently work for a German NGO in international development and disability, and we use the internet all the time to communicate with each other. As somebody with a disability myself, I find it really useful and easy to access. I use a piece of software that’s called Illuminate, or Blackboard Collaborate, and it’s a piece of software for online conferencing. 

“We work in 90 different countries, with a range of people with different impairments, but I can use this online conferencing technology, essentially to communicate and have meetings with, write documents and discuss – just as we are now, face-to-face – but online. 

“This piece of software uses a really low bandwidth and it’s accessible for all people. So, two of my colleagues in my Brussels office are blind, and they use this with their screenreaders, easily. I have another colleague who’s deaf, and I can use closed captioning, real-time, and I can also record, so that people who miss it can engage again. 

“Ironically, it was my 82-year-old father who introduced me to Illuminate. He’s doing a Spanish degree with The Open University, and he said “Illuminate, Illuminate – why aren’t you using this brilliant piece of online conferencing?” So I looked into it and now we use it routinely, and I probably use it for four or five hours a day. 

“I think the main barriers that people face are resource barriers and access barriers. So, somebody may not have access to the internet, they may not have this because they can’t afford it, or because they are too frightened of the kind of things that they might not think that they are able to do. But as I said, I’m using this piece of software, which is low broadband, with people in very low income countries, and people with very little use of the internet, and if we can help people digitally connect and be online, then that’s the main barrier to overcome. 

“The next is just people’s own confidence, really, to engage and use these new technologies, but if my 82-year-old dad can do it, I reckon anyone can.”

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Go ON Gold is a campaign to help disabled people get online and access digital technologies that are essential to modern life. Whether you are an individual or an organisation, we can help you and we need your help.

To find out more about how to get online; help others get online; or ensure your own digital services are accessible, please visit our website:
www.go-on-gold.co.uk

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CREDITS:
Film by Catch21 Productions.
The campaign is supported by Nominet Trust - making change happen.