New research reveals that three-quarters of Australian teens who are living with disability are exposed to potentially harmful online content – compared with a national average of 62 per cent. The findings have prompted the disability sector to welcome new online safety resources developed by Scope and the eSafety Commissioner’s Office.
Scope’s Be Safe Online resources are designed to not only support young people with disability but also to empower parents, guardians, and carers to have meaningful conversations about online safety.
The resources have taken 18 months to develop and were created with direct input from young people with disabilities, their families, carers, educators, and subject matter experts, ensuring they are specifically tailored to meet the needs of this vulnerable group.
Focus groups facilitated by Scope revealed that while there is widespread awareness of the risks associated with being online, many parents, carers, and educators lack the confidence and tools to effectively discuss safe practices with young people.
The Be Safe Online resources developed by Scope to better protect young people living with disability online include:
- easy English resources designed for people with communication disabilities and low literacy to access with support of a communication partner if needed, covering topics such as staying safe from scams, providing online consent and maintaining a healthy online balance
- communication book and key word sign resource designed to facilitate effective conversations about online safety and make reporting to the eSafety Commissioner more accessible
- eLearning module developed to support educators and trainers to provide more communication accessible content to their audiences.
Tools to help parents and carers keep young people with a disability safer from online risks is overdue, with the survey finding that, on weekdays, 42 per cent of young people with disability spent between three to five hours a day online (compared with the national average of 36 per cent).
Other findings include:
- Seven in 10 young people with disability (69 per cent) said they find it easier to be themselves online than when they are with people face-to-face, compared with the national average of six in 10 (59 per cent)
- On weekends, 42 per cent of young people with disability spent 6 or more hours a day online (compared with the national average of 32 per cent)
- One in six young people with disability (16 per cent) were subjected to regular online abuse (weekly or more often), compared with nine per cent of Australian children overall
- Almost one in four teens with disability had been threatened with physical harm while online (24 per cent, compared with the national average of 16 per cent) or had been the subject of hate speech (23 per cent, compared with the national average of 14 per cent)
- More than three-quarters of teens with disability had seen sexual images online (77 per cent, compared with the national average of 71 per cent), and more than half had received a sexual message (56 per cent, compared with the national average of 47 per cent)
- Teens with disability were also more likely to have been asked for sexual information (26 per cent, compared with the national average of 18 per cent) or sexual images of themselves (15 per cent, compared with the national average of 11 per cent).
Supporting better online safety
Scope CEO Kate MacRae says the tailored resources will support young people with disability to access the online world safely, while also supporting parents, guardians and carers to engage them with confidence.
“The ability to access digital platforms is very important for young people with disability. Along with being important from an accessibility perspective, the internet can open opportunities to participate in communities and forge connections in ways that may not be easily accessible to them in the physical world,” MacRae says.
“However, people living with disability are disproportionality at risk of online abuse, exposure to inappropriate content and scams. It’s crucial that we support young people with disability to access the online world safely. This also means empowering their parents and carers, many of whom lack the confidence to address these challenges effectively.
“These resources have the potential to be a game-changer for both young people living with disability and the people who support them. Our goal is to enable young people to explore the online world freely, but with the assurance that they can do so safely. The Be Safe Online resources will help us to do just that.”
