My name is John Paul, I am 37 years old. I’ve been a member of Glasgow Disability Alliance - or GDA, for over seven years.
It all started back in 2018, when Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA) brought in a new project through a group called Drivers for Change which encouraged us to find out about and apply for Participatory Budgeting (PB) money that would allow us to do something for our whole community.
Myself and five other people from the Milton Area, who are all members of GDA, got together and decided with the help and support from GDA staff to apply for PB money as we wanted to do an event for our whole community, disabled people and non-disabled people together.
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In January 2019 myself and another member Ruth, a GDA staff member, went up to Milton Church where we had to put and sell our application idea forward to a panel that were judging whether we got the money, as there were quite a few applying for it. Thankfully we were successful with our idea and then the hard work began.
There were six GDA members involved so we named ourselves the 'Fantastic 6'.
The first thing we did was name our project the Big Milton Fun Day, we then set the date which was May 11.
Then the next thing was getting an accessible venue, we had lots of meetings bringing ideas together as we were aware of problems that people with disabilities face on a daily basis in the area.
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We found the Glasgow Life Milton Learning Campus and used that as a venue.
We contacted organisations from mental health, housing associations and clubs in the area - and asked them to get involved by setting up stalls that would provide local people with information and help within the area.
We also contacted local councillors from all parties and invited them to be part of the day as well.
We had stalls with art/crafts, jewellery making, things for children, dance lessons.
I also spoke to our local community activist in the area who managed to get the local community police involved, they brought up police motor bikes and showed all the new police protective gear to the children, the local fire brigade also attended and took part.
We were also lucky to have someone bring up a Harley Davidson bike so the kids and adults could get photos sitting on it.
The guy also brought up his Del Boy car, Robin Reliant which was loved by all.
We then decided to also give the people attending food, drink, transport and personal assistance if needed – whatever they needed to take part.
During one of the meetings it was decided we would have a raffle going to the local food banks, St Augustine's and St Gregory's both cover Possilpark, Milton, Spring burn and Ruchill areas, in the area.
To do the raffle we had to approach businesses and ask them if they could help by donating prizes which they did. And it was great success in both informing people what help is available in the area, lots of good and helpful information and fun for the kids it also led to us getting involved in other organisations and putting on events for other organisations raising awareness to people disabilities.
We later applied for funding for two other events due to the massive success of the Great Big Milton Fun Day. They were the 3Cs funding and that was for confidence building for people with disabilities encouraging them to volunteer and use their voice. Then in December 2019 we held a similar in Milton for isolation and loneliness at Xmas. The money we raised through that went to St Matthew's feed the homeless projects and Milton Gardens which helps the local community with lunch clubs and food parcels.
Due to the success of the 'Fantastic 6' with GDA’s help we decided in 2020 we were going continue raising awareness about barriers for people with disabilities but due to lockdown and Covid19 we had to change how we do that. The current situation has been difficult for most people, but people in isolation and vulnerable groups have been hit the hardest. The loneliness has been not being able attend clubs and organisations and has caused serious issues and has had an impact on their Mental Health.
GDA and the 'Fantastic 6' have been amazing at not only setting up a meet and chat group through Zoom for us to stay in touch with and support other disabled people, but also GDA provides online courses and provides people with the equipment and IT training if needed.
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