Glad you asked! We’re learning about how to be better prepared for future emergencies by talking to people about what they’re doing in the pandemic. We believe there’s a lot to learn from listening to people about your real experiences and how you’re figuring things out in a situation as unusual as this.
We’re collecting stories from people across the Metro Vancouver area with all different kinds of experiences, and especially people with cognitive disabilities, their families, and people who work with and support them.
If you click through to the next page, you’ll see a form where first we ask you to tell us about something you’ve done or that’s happened to you. Then we ask you some questions about that story, and a few questions about yourself as well. You can choose which questions you want to answer, and you can share as many stories as you want.
That’s okay! The stories we’re interested in are the kind you might tell a friend when you’re just talking about your day, things that happened or things that you did. They don’t have to be special or “good” stories. We’re really just looking for some examples from your every day. We have included some prompting questions that will help you think about a specific experience to share.
We won’t ask you for your name ever, so you and your stories will be totally anonymous. Please leave out identifying details in your stories, like using someone’s name (for example, instead of saying “David Suzuki and I had a chat”, you can say “D and I had a chat”, to keep David’s name private). If you do include identifying details, we will do our best to keep them private.
After we collect a lot of stories, we’ll ask some of the people who shared their stories to help us interpret them. We’ll look for patterns and inspirations to help us think about what we can be doing differently right now and to be better prepared for future emergencies.
If you have questions about this project, you can contact Lynne Ford, email (l.ford@shsbc.ca) or call 604-536-1242 ext. 258.
This project is a joint effort of BACI, Kinsight, posAbilities, and UNITI, supported by a consulting team of Carolyn Camman and Chris Corrigan. It is funded by the McConnell Foundation.
Making Sense of the Data
Looking at the trends is part of the “Sense Making” process that leads to Action. We look at the data to identify trends/patterns that give us insights into connections, what’s working/not working and where there are gaps. This curiosity helps us to identify the key learning that can then be translated into: enhanced emergency response planning, creating organization specific emergency response plans, informing strategic directions for the post pandemic landscape and strategic operational planning.
To check out UNITI’s COVID-19 Resources, click here
