An organisation called National Voices has created ‘Our Covid Voices’ which is a project which allows people with long-term conditions, disabilities and other health and care needs to share with the world what life is like for them right now. They can talk about their experiences of the UK under lockdown as they happen.

These experiences will be used to influence national and local decision-makers and make it easier for them to develop policies and services that can have a positive effect. They can get a clear picture of what people are experiencing around the country.

You can be a part of this project by telling other people what it has been like for you to live through this Covid-19 outbreak. This must be in less than 700 words of writing.

You might want to talk about:

• What is making your life easier or harder?
• How you are going about your daily life under these strange conditions?
• How are you engaging with health or care services?
• What do you do to stay connected to people?

These are just some ideas; you are open to write about whatever Covid-19 experiences matter most to you. There is no need for it to be dramatic, heart breaking or inspiring, but it can be. They just want to know what it is really like to live with ill health or disability during this time.

A member of our staff team, Gary, has written his experiences down below.

Yours does not have to be like this but you may want to use it for some ideas on the sorts of things you can talk about.

My Experiences of the Covid 19 outbreak

I am a person with mild learning disabilities and epilepsy. I live at the top of Edwardian flat in a seaside village. I have been working from home which is much harder than you think. There are lots of distractions at home. I like meeting and networking with people usually, which I must do without now. I have been using zoom and Microsoft teams to keep in contact with my work colleges.

On other days I Facebook with my friends or use my mobile to phone my friends and family. It can be lonely sometimes even though I have a neighbour downstairs, I live up 5 flights of stairs. She helps me with letters, cooks on Sunday, irons my clothes and occasionally gets some shopping in. This really helps me.

I do go out, no more than an hour, as that’s the rules at this moment. There a few shops open, some restaurants are running a takeaway service, but the Chinese take away I usually order from has been closed since covid-19 started. Cafes have also been closed which have been great meeting places for people. I often use cafes to socialise and spend time out of the house. My sister did take me to the supermarket at the very beginning of this crisis, but now I cannot do that. I received a letter informing me to self-isolate as I am in a vulnerable group, so I order my shopping in now and it gets left at the doorstep.

By Gary

For more information on this project, and how to take part visit their website here