How many times have our volunteer Digital Champions heard this? 'I wish the dam internet had never been invented
If i had a pound for every time I'd heard those words, I would be living on an exotic island somewhere. But as you can imagine, as look out of my window at another grey February sky, this is not how these things play out. However, when it comes to how young people with additional needs are choosing to communicate with each other and those around the internet (hopefully unlike the grey February sky) is here to stay. so munch so that, globally, we know that one in three internet users, or about 800 million, are children. Within the UK context, Ofcom's state of nation 2020 report stated, in 2020, nearly all five-to 15-year-olds are online and, of this group, 81% reported experiencing online risks. Available evidence paints a familiar story. Young people with additional needs are more likely to experience online risks and have these risks worsen faster than their peers.' for example research shows us that autistic children experience significantly more online safety risks and psychological implications of these risk experiences than non-autistic children.
https://www.myfamilyourneeds.co.uk/support-child/connectivity-young-people-additional-needs/
Ability.net is also a good insight into safe, accessible tech: https://abilitynet.org.uk/