• There appears to be relatively good IT access for people in Lewisham as a result of Government initiatives such as UK Online and the People's Network. Lewisham was also one of the first boroughs to offer free internet access in all its libraries.
• The issue of minority ethnic groups accessing IT, while recognised as an area of concern by a PAT (Policy Action Team) 15 report has so far received little direct attention in Lewisham. The focus of outreach is generally on disadvantaged people.
• Currently there is a lack of statistics and co-ordination of organisations working on IT related projects in Lewisham. There are some signs that this situation is likely to improve as most of the centres (particularly the UK Online centres) have only been set up recently.
• We have identified some interesting projects which provide access and training in Lewisham, a number of which involve groups taking laptops into the community and others which work on a very localised basis using only a couple of computers.

• In exploring current understanding of access to IT amongst this group it becomes clear that there are no organisations working specifically or exclusively in this arena.
• As is the case for disabled groups generally, there is poor provision of data illustrating what percentage of people with dexterity issues have access to and use IT or indeed have the skills to do so.
• Where there is a focus on people with dexterity problems is in the development of new technologies; much work has clearly been conducted into developing alternatives to traditional computer technology over recent years.
• Clearly, a key issue for this group is a need for accessible information on these new technologies as well as on possible sources of funding to cover this potentially expensive equipment which has to be bought in addition to mainstream hard and software. In the course of this research, we have identified a number of bodies whose remit is to provide such information to people across the UK.
• We have also identified a number of innovative outreach projects working with disabled people with a range of impairments including dexterity issues. However with the exception of 'IT can help' these are generally small, local projects and there appears to be a lack of coordination at a national level, even in terms of collating a national database of the different projects being carried out around the country.
• Professionals working with disabled groups perceive a strong need for further work to be conducted into inclusion issues for disabled people both in terms of gaining access to and developing skills needed for IT. However they stress that there also needs to be a strong focus on increasing confidence levels among disabled people.

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