This case study forms part of the What Good Looks Like report on people with a learning disability and autistic people. This co-produced report was commissioned from the Building the Right Support (BTRS) Advisory Group, as part of the wider action plan developed by the Building the Right Support Delivery Board. It has been supported by Partners in Care and Health.
Introduction
The Autism and Learning Disability Digital Inclusion Network (ALaDDIN) is part of the 100% Digital Leeds programme which promotes inclusive digital support to help people with jobs, health and social participation. 100% Digital Leeds is core funded by Leeds City Council with additional short-term funding tied to specific projects including from Leeds Clinical Commissioning Network (ICS) and one-off central government funding streams.
The programme is rooted in the city’s long-standing work to reduce poverty and economic inequality, and to secure healthy and fulfilling lives for all its citizens.
ALaDDIN explicitly recognises that people with a learning disability, autistic people or both can be excluded from the digital world, and was established in response to COVID-19 with a focus on addressing the digital divide experienced by this group.
This programme has a focus on outcomes: in itself, increased digital inclusion is not the driver for change, but it is being used as an enabler to include more people in the workplace, secure better health for more and to increase social participation.
About the programme
The 100% Digital Leeds programme is core funded by Leeds City Council with additional short-term funding tied to specific projects including from Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and one-off central Government funding streams.
It operates in Leeds and positions digital inclusion as an enabler to secure economic, health and social wellbeing for all its population, and this programme covers people of all ages.
The programme is rooted in the city’s long-standing work to reduce poverty and economic inequality, and to secure healthy and fulfilling lives for all its citizens. It also supports Leeds' approach to securing system-wide health and care responses to keep people healthy within their communities.
Leeds City Council's Scrutiny Board (Infrastructure, Investment, and Inclusive Growth) reviewed digital inclusion in the city in 2015 and produced a set of recommendations on how greater inclusion could be achieved. 100% Digital Leeds emerged from this scrutiny's inquiry and the team have helped to build networks of organisations that are working together to increase digital inclusion for the people they support.
Part of this work recognised that whilst the council might struggle to reach some individuals or communities, that a community asset approach, for example, working in collaboration with a vast range of community groups, will ensure that people who have previously been excluded from efforts to make services more inclusive are heard.
ALaDDIN includes around 30 organisations that support autistic people, people with a learning disability or both. It explicitly recognises that people with a learning disability, autistic people or both can be excluded from the digital world and was established in response to COVID-19, with a focus on addressing the digital divide experienced by this group.
What makes it good?
ALaDDIN takes action to address exclusion by:
- Driving forward a shift in perceptions and culture around who should/could use digital tools. This includes developing training for individuals, family members, carers, support workers, and staff/volunteers but also challenging public sector organisations to adapt the content of apps, platforms and other digital information to meet the needs of disabled people.
- Working as a forum for sharing funding opportunities, creating alliances between providers, sharing best practice and challenges. It is a co-ordinated and collective voice.
- Sourcing the provision of digital equipment and supporting organisations to help individuals to use it in an accessible way that is meaningful to them.
- Ongoing engagement with people with a learning disability, autistic people, or both in testing accessibility and gathering insights to barriers to inclusion.
100% Leeds is about digital inclusion for all and works through networks of local community/voluntary groups, council teams, and health and care settings and organisations to ensure that those most likely to be excluded from digital resources are included in work to improve access to these.
The 100% Digital Team is a permanent team in the council’s Integrated Digital Service. The council’s Best City Ambition proposals say that the council will ‘continue its commitment to 100% Digital, reflecting the vital importance of access to an increasingly digital world.' Elected members through the scrutiny process continue to regularly overview progress of this programme.
NHS Leeds CCG is funding an additional digital inclusion coordinator for people with learning disabilities and autistic people. The funding for this post came into the council, though the post sits within a third sector organization and is matrix-managed by 100% Digital Leeds.
The programme has strong political leadership and builds on the strong community sector within Leeds and supports them to do what they do best. This is demonstrated through a clear city-wide narrative about why digital inclusion is important to individuals and the benefits to individuals. The coordinator’s role is crucial in making this work, by supporting and facilitating all the other partners working on this.
Barriers and how they were overcome
Limiting attitudes and perceptions about whether individuals with learning disabilities can or should use digital tools had to be overcome to start this work. It was addressed by ensuring that all partners and services saw inclusion as being about more than simply setting up new digital services or apps – but about ensuring that all the population benefit from access.
The initial set-up of the programme ensured that these potential barriers were addressed through the way the programme was communicated and promoted amongst the voluntary and community sector.
This initiative is 'good' because it demonstrates some key shifts in thinking demonstrated by recognising the following attributes:
- It is core business: ALaDDIN is embedded within the 100% DigitalLeeds approach – and is not a one-off short-term project.
- It uses co-production: Under the council’s leadership Leeds is committed to addressing the digital divide through systematic co-production with individuals who are excluded and organisations who work with and support those communities.
- It rethinks what inclusion means: Shared recognition across all sectors of the need to think differently about inclusion and how people with disabilities are excluded from digital tools or communication.
- It has a focus on outcomes: Increased digital inclusion is not the driver for change, but it is being used as an enabler to include more people in the workplace, secure better health for more and to increase social participation.