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The Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA) has published a new report examining how digital education platforms are experienced by learners with neurodivergences, and where their design is still falling short.

Published during World Autism Acceptance Month, Accessibility in Digital Education Service Design draws on survey responses from 88 respondents, alongside desk research, to look at an issue that sits inside the ordinary workings of school life and is often treated as less consequential than it is.

Among those surveyed, 72% said they were required to use digital education daily. Only 36% had access to a laptop for schoolwork. A further 44% said a smartphone was their only means of accessing educational platforms. Respondents also described those platforms as hard to use, while support was named as an important factor in how confident they felt when using technology. Across the survey, 90% said educational platforms were not accessible and needed improvement to cater for individuals with neurodivergences.

Elizabeth Anderson, CEO, Digital Poverty Alliance, said the findings show how quickly a question of access becomes a question of design. “Digital education is now routine across school life, but routine does not mean accessible. This report shows that when platforms are difficult to navigate, visually overwhelming, or poorly designed for different needs, the pressure does not fall evenly. Learners are being asked to adapt to systems that should have been designed with them in mind.”

That argument runs through the report. A student may be online and still be working through a platform that is cluttered, distracting, difficult to interpret or poorly suited to different ways of processing information. For learners managing sensory sensitivities, executive functioning difficulties, or limited access to suitable technology, that can make ordinary schoolwork more demanding than it needs to be.

The DPA also places those experiences in a wider context. The report looks at the way neurodivergence can intersect with digital poverty, language barriers and broader inequality, and why those overlapping pressures matter when educational platforms are badly designed. A system built around one assumed user, one assumed device and one straightforward route through information will not work equally well for every learner expected to rely on it.

The report calls for educational platforms that are clearer, more flexible and more responsive to different needs. Its recommendations include interface customisation, stronger engagement with accessibility organisations, and broader consultation with those whose experiences are often least reflected in digital design. As more of education moves through digital systems, those decisions will shape not only how students access learning, but how fairly they are able to do so.

Read the full report here