How can community organisations appropriately use digital technology to deliver services to adults with learning disabilities and/or autistic adults?

The project, which was funded by the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR204244), produced six evidence-based top tips. These are summarised in the animation below. The accompanying research briefing provides more details.  

The team held a webinar on 21 May 2025 to officially launch the project results. Forty-four people from local and national government, NHS, the voluntary sector and universities attended. The slides used in the webinar and a recording of the webinar are available to download.  

Background:

Digital technology is seen as a way to improve quality and reduce the cost of social care services. At the same time VCSOs are also getting more involved in delivering social care services to adults with learning disabilities and/or autistic adults. 

VCSOs started using digital technology more during the Covid-19 pandemic but very few organisations or service users were properly prepared for it. Now they are trying to figure out how to combine technology and in-person activities in the most appropriate way. At the moment there is not enough information to help VCSOs use technology in the best way to deliver services. This research aimed to help VCSOs know how to do this. 

The research looked at adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults together because this is how they are often grouped together by services. 

What we did:

The research used a ‘participatory realist review’ methodology. This means it did not collect new data through, for example, interviews or surveys. Instead, the team tried to collect and understand all of the already published information about the topic. People from VCSOs and people with learning disabilities and/or autistic adults from the Autism and Learning Disability Digital Inclusion Network (ALaDDIN) were involved throughout.  

Nicky from Pyramid, who previously coordinated ALaDDIN, said: 

“I worked really closely with Kris and the team throughout this piece of research...It was a really lovely piece of research. We have this video now and hopefully that will be helpful for lots of different organisations in the future”  

A protocol paper describing the method in detail has been published in Systematic Reviews and is available for free.  

What next?

The research identified six top tips to help VCSOs use digital technology more appropriately with adults with learning disabilities and/or autistic adults. However, it also produced lots more questions. 

One of the initial hopes for the research was to be able to give clear guidance about which technology might be useful for VCSOs working with specific groups of people and to deliver specific services. However, this was not possible due to the great range of ways that digital technology is used by VCSOs, the diversity among the learning disability and autistic communities, and the lack of research that has been done on the specific topic.  

The team from the Centre for Health Promotion Research plans to continue collaborating with partners from other universities, local and national government, the voluntary sector, and people with learning disabilities and autistic people to do more research. 

• In Spring/Summer, the team are holding a series of discussions about learning disabilities, VCSOs, and digital inequalities. The next is an online workshop at 12:30 on 18 June 2025 to discuss research priorities and co-create a research agenda.  

You can register to attend on Eventbrite. 

• There will also be an in-person event in Leeds for adults with learning disabilities and autistic people to share their experiences and ideas. This will be on 18 July 2025. (Registration has not yet opened).  

For more information about the completed project or about future plans, please contact Kris Southby.  

Credits and Disclaimers: 

The animation was created by NIFTY FOX CREATIVE.