More support needed for children with disabilities when online, says UEA research
They found that people working with these young people need to provide better help
Children with disabilities need better support when online, according to research led by the University of East Anglia.
The work shows that extra help from teachers, youth workers and language therapists doesn't always come when children with disabilities are on the internet, even though this group encounter more online risks than others - and are more vulnerable than their peers.
The findings come as the latest draft of the Online Safety Bill nears the end of its journey through Parliament.
While this landmark legislation will put greater responsibility on tech companies to do more to keep users safe, including children, it is widely accepted that it will not be able to eradicate all risk from online life.
Researchers therefore argue this underlines the need for better education about online risk, especially for vulnerable groups such as children with disabilities.
"Children with disabilities will have more support when learning"
Lead author Dr Simon P Hammond, of UEA’s School of Education and Lifelong Learning, said:
“Educators spend a disproportionate amount of time dealing with unforeseen safeguarding events and/or sudden disciplinary issues, a key contributor to high and stressful workloads.
“Redistributing time to be invested into addressing structural holes, gaps between differing professionals surrounding children with disabilities, is likely to pay dividends in other areas.
“Related to this, supporting other community members is also key to promoting children’s digital resilience.
“This means children with disabilities will have more support when learning how to recognise, manage and recover from online risk experiences – an increasingly key task for all citizens.
"For communities to be greater than the sum of their parts, responsibility needs to be diffused yet ownership collective. A thorny but not impossible task and one likely to pay dividends.
“Despite learning best through concrete experiences, children with disabilities receive less supported learning opportunities to develop digital resilience in the face of online risks. In short, professional communities are providing least support to the group most in need.”
Where does this research differ from other work?
Previous research has focused on the development of 'digital resilience' at an individual level, but the ways in which community support impact this, is under-explored.
'Digital resilience' refers to the ability to learn how to recognise, manage and recover from online risk experiences, such as bullying, sexual messaging and mis/disinformation.
The research involved 30 online semi-structured interviews with professionals supporting the education and wellbeing of children with disabilities from across the country- including teachers and youth workers.