Digital LifeLine – interim report published today

Learning Disability England has been working in partnership with Good Things Foundation and AbilityNet, VODG and other disability and digital inclusion organisations and community partners to help people with learning disabilities get online.

The project ran between March and June 2021.

Today the project’s interim report has been published.

Read the report here

The pandemic exposed a deep digital divide. 

Digital Lifeline Fund was a time-limited emergency response, supported by The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

It got devices, data and digital skills support to people with learning disabilities in England.

Together with 150 national and community partners, the project reached 5,500 digitally excluded people with learning disabilities in just a few months between June and August this year. 

Digital Lifeline shows we can work together, in communities and nationwide, to help fix the digital divide.

But the project also showed more support is needed to extend a digital lifeline to people with learning disabilities. 

The Digital Lifeline Fund received requests for nearly 10,000 devices.

This shows the scale of digital exclusion among people with learning disabilities in England. 

So today the Good Things Foundation launched its digital blueprint.

It calls on the Government to put digital inclusion at the heart of COVID-19 recovery.

And to take decisive action to fix the digital divide.

Download a copy of the Digital Blueprint here.

Find out more about the work of the Good Things Foundation and how to get involved here