Parents and carers can often feel overwhelmed by their children’s tech abilities and the concerns the online environment can pose. They wonder how digital devices and online technologies work and how their children seem to manage so naturally to incorporate them into their lives. Children on the other hand feel excited and empowered by technology, and once adopted are passionate about the benefits it offers them.
While these experiences are like those of other young people, the response strategies adopted by young people with intellectual disability can have more serious consequences when it comes to negative online experiences, so prevention and understanding of their motivations and subsequent behaviours is key. Research shows that emotional need, poor understanding of relationships, and peer pressure, have more influence than rules on young people. Often, rather than reaching out and seeking support in adverse circumstances, these young people often respond to negative online issues by shutting down or becoming more secretive about their online lives.
‘My phone’s like a sister. If it gets taken away it feels like my life’s been taken with it.’ – Young Person, Vulnerable Children in a Digital World.
Like many young people, young people with a disability also innately fear that if they report something that has gone wrong, their connection to the online world (via device or platform) may be taken away, so choose not to seek help from caregivers as a result. For young people with a disability, this can mean they are especially vulnerable to manipulation by others. This is a primary motivator for young people to ensure continued use of technology, regardless of negative experiences or potential risk and harm.
Although YLWD are considered at a higher risk of being vulnerable online (particularly between the ages of 13-15 years) it’s important that these young people aren’t further marginalised or their autonomy negatively impacted online.
Every child deserves the right to be safe online and it is important that parents have a balanced approach when it comes to online safety.
Parents need to consider the following preventative strategies to help protect their child online:
Your child’s capabilities to understand these concepts will also vary and obviously, will be determined on an individual basis. You will need to work together with your child to find a respectable balance between meeting their needs of being autonomous and protecting them as best you can online.
This balance may be different in every family.
It is inevitable that at some point, young people will make poor choices. However, the most positive steps we can take to help them both learn from and minimise the impact of these mistakes, is by focusing on restorative rather than punitive practices or responses in the home.
By taking responsibility and accountability for the issue, we can show children how to develop emotional skills like empathy and educate them on steps to avoid problems again in the future.
Familiarise reporting opportunities:
Cyberbullying, Adult cyber abuse and Image-based abuse | eSafety
Report grooming and sexual abuse | Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation
Report a Scam | Scamwatch
Contacts for Help & Support:
Counselling Support | Kids Helpline
Online & phone support | headspace
There is a different Parentline service in each State or Territory | Parentline
This Online Safety Training is a joint initiative between Interaction and ySafe and has been made possible by funding from the eSafety Commissioner's Online Safety Grants program.