Tag Archives: Internet

iPads for kids with learning difficulties

MP visits Hackney primary school for launch of new learning scheme

 

DIANE ABBOTT visited a primary school to help launch a new scheme in London which will give iPads to children with learning disabilities.

The MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington, attended Grasmere Primary School in Hackney, east London last week Friday (December 6) to raise awareness of the project.

The initiative is the brainchild of Hearts & Minds Challenge – a charity dedicated to helping families of children with autism.

By donating old mobile phones to the charity, they can go towards an exchange for an iPad. The charity needs to collect at least 185 old, broken, damaged or unwanted mobile phones in exchange for a brand new iPad with autism-friendly apps and features.

Grasmere Primary School is well known for its inclusivity for children with complex special educational needs and its close working relationship with external professionals supporting children.

Martha Lane Fox, a 'force of nature' to get Britons online -but family carers need special help!

 

Martha Lane Fox.

 

Maybe I just don’t know enough about what chief executives of major FTSE 100 companies get up to, but I’m mildly gobsmacked to find half a dozen of them hanging out in Gateshead on a wet Wednesday in October. At a reception for local councillors, I stumble across the CEOs of Argos and E.ON deep in conversation and watch the CEO of Everything Everywhere, a Dutchman of athletic build enjoying a casual lunchtime sandwich with a member of north Tyneside council.

“I am impressed,” the latter tells me later, “with the seniority of the people here.” He’s not kidding. But then, another CEO, Dido Harding, of TalkTalk, explains it me. They’re here “because Martha told us to be”. It just about sums it up. We’re all here, the CEOs, the local councillors, the cream of the north-east’s business fraternity, dozens of community groups, a hundred or so volunteers, me, because Martha told us to be.

The preventative care revolution depends on closing the digital divide

Across the UK, 11 million people have poor digital skills and half those who are offline have a disability. Digital inclusion is now a matter of life and death

 

Over-65s account for half of NHS spending, but more than a third have never been online.

There’s a clear consenus over maintaining the great national treasure that is the NHS and preserving its ethos of providing care free at the point of delivery. But demand for health services is rising fast as society changes, so how on earth do we afford it?

It’s crucial that the NHS makes the best possible use of the funds available. Preventive care is key objective: by encouraging people to take care of their own health, pre-empting and preventing illness before it happens, the NHS can ensure its limited resources are directed towards those who need them most.

Can technology help with a preventive care revolution in healthcare? Many of us now have constant internet access and can find health information easily. I see it every day: patients use wristwatches, GPS devices and apps to track steps, heart rate, calories burned and other personal statistics.