In the UK today, it's estimated that 20% of the UK's population has a disability, somewhere in the region of 14 million people. With a system that's often difficult to navigate, societal barriers, a lack of services, and challenges with the accessibility of the built environment, the end-user is often left unable to participate in daily life as they should.  It's for this reason that BATA is passionate about ensuring that disabled adults and children as well as older people get access to the AT and accompanying services that they have a right to, so that they can remain as independent as possible. We do that through (more below): Advocacy Empowering and Strengthening Challenging Stigma Research and Partnerships Creating Community  BATA is here to advocate and raise awareness on issues surrounding AT to governments, businesses and communities. We aim to capacity build and strengthen our sector and industry, challenge stigma, create a vibrant community and network that supports our mission, and finally, push for better information and evidence through collaborations, partnerships and research. We aim to respond to the UKs current context and remain flexible to support our members in a variety of ways as changes happen. BATA aims to become the one-stop-shop for advice and information on AT for end-users and businesses, and we regularly share referrals to our membership as they arrive. Our current members are suppliers, assistive technology (AT) professionals, universities, organisations who provide support to people who need AT solutions as well as charities.  *Please note that BATA cannot endorse any particular technology and does its utmost to remain impartial. BATA shares experiences and information but no opinion on which technology/software is most appropriate. BATA is not an assessor* 

Hello, I'm Lynn. I'm an educational consultant supporting all things SEND (but especially SENCos). I have 20 years of primary teaching and SLT experience. I have been an Assistant Head, Lead Mentor for ITT and SENCo. I love to write and also have my own SEMH and staff mental health blog: www.positiveyoungmind.com I hold an MA in Education, NASENCO and NPQH. My particular areas of interest are wellbeing (staff and pupil), SEND, SLCN, children’s mental health, leadership, mentoring and coaching. Recently I started an Educational Consultancy business for SEND (SEND support) and Teacher Wellbeing (The Wellbeing Lady). All my SENCO freebies can be found here: https://positiveyoungmind.com/senco-resources/  I have a teacher coaching group on Facebook; a group for those wishing to improve their work-life balance in school or who need support in moving out of teaching: https://www.facebook.com/groups/coachingforteacherwellbeing  Looking forward to connecting!