Good Things Foundation Australia and Down Syndrome Australia are collaborating on a project that aims to support young people with intellectual disability to develop essential digital skills. As part of this project, we held a Roundtable in October 2021 bringing together people with intellectual disability, researchers, family members, disability service providers, advocates, and policymakers to:
- Highlight the issues of digital exclusion for people with disability
- Gain a greater understanding of the digital divide and the online safety risks for people with intellectual disability, and the current research and programs to address these needs
- Establish recommendations for future policy and programs.
From discussions at the Roundtable on the context and barriers for people with intellectual disability getting online, the following five recommendations were made to address this digital divide:
- Ability – The Australian Government should fund a holistic program to increase the digital ability of people with intellectual disability.
- Access – Government needs to ensure all websites and key information resources are accessible for people with intellectual disability (available in Easy Read or Plain English formats).
- Access – Support needs to be provided to people with intellectual disability and their families to choose the right technology and data plans.
- Access – People with intellectual disability in shared accommodation should be supported to use technology
- Affordability – Access to technology, and funding to support digital literacy needs to be available as part of every NDIS plan for adults with intellectual disability.
Read more about what we heard at the Roundtable and our recommendations by downloading our report.
