Share Our Story

The story starts with Disability in Wales and Africa (DWA), established in 2010, to promote Disability Inclusive Development within the Wales Africa sector. In 2019, DWA became a Disabled Persons Organization (DPO) and adopted an overall goal of global solidarity of Deaf and Disabled People / People with Disabilities. The idea of the #SOS project developed during the COVID pandemic, and in March 2022 a WhatsApp chat was established as a forum where People with Disabilities / Deaf and Disabled People could discuss their lived experience.

We bring people together to combat isolation. We encourage them to share and discuss their lived experiences, helping people understand that disability experience is not unique to one person and is shared across communities, countries, and continents.

Within #SOS, People with Disabilities discuss their stories, ideas, experience, and expertise for the mutual benefit of the whole group and beyond. We also use other social media platforms to share these lived experiences, engage with the wider public, and promote Disability Inclusive Development.

The agenda and narrative of the forums are set by people who directly experience disability. A crucial feature of #SOS debate and discussion is that it is generated by the disabled community.

#SOS was created to share stories amongst men and women with disabilities where together we will build amazing lives for ourselves and future generations, building each other up with our different experiences and stories. We're speaking out from a variety of 10 countries in Africa and Wales, and hope to continue growing with your help. We appreciate and congratulate you all, and hope at some point the compilation of stories can be published into an inspirational book and royalties from it can be used to help others in our place. We are building our legacy by telling our own stories because we are the ones who do it best!

Do these stories and discussions resonate with you? Do you have a similar or different story to tell? If you have direct experience of disability, you are very welcome to contribute or debate it with us. How? Just join our Whatsapp group. If not, then feel free to get in touch by email, to see how your company/organisation/service could remove the barriers discussed and become more disability inclusive.

Download Whatsapp for web or Whatsapp for IOS / Android. On the Support Us page we have a list of forms, the top-most of which opens this form where you can apply for access to the group! Note that we let people in on an individual basis to ensure user's privacy, so this might come with a waiting time.