We are looking over the shoulders of two people looking at the Alvie site on a laptop

New social platform makes friendships easier for people with disability

Danielle Kutchel
The site has a particular focus on safety, security and inclusivity. A first-of-its-kind social media site is breaking down social barriers faced by people with disability. Called Alvie, the platform provides a safe, inclusive and accessible place for people with disability to meet others through shared interests, hobbies and experiences. It was founded by Steve Bear, who had previously run camps for children with disability. He has also been involved in the upbringing of two children with disabilities, one with Down syndrome and one with an intellectual disability. Bear said he had seen first-hand the struggles that people with disability face in making and maintaining friendships outside of their families and support workers or carers, and the unhappiness and mental health problems that loneliness leads to.
See more: Taking connection to those who need it most
?From all of that experience, two of the major challenges that I see faced every day [by people with disability are] employment and loneliness. Now, I can't do anything about employment directly, but basically I sat down and came up with Alvie to try to relieve the loneliness side,? he told Pro Bono News.

How it works

Alvie is designed to be used by anyone over the age of five who is looking for a friend.˜ While it has been targeted at people with disability, it can also be used by those who do not have a disability. Bear said the platform is ?nothing like Facebook? or other social media apps like Instagram. The biggest differentiator is that in order to join Alvie, you must have a police check. Users under 18 must have two forms of photo identification. ?We?re doing everything we can to make it as safe as we can make it,? he said. It has a strong focus on security, and any users under the age of 18 must have a carer, support worker or parent attached to their account. Artificial intelligence monitors the platform and picks up any photos or language deemed inappropriate, and participants in the conversation are warned about the unacceptable behaviour. For younger users, the support worker, carer or parent on the account is also alerted. Management can also suspend or delete accounts if needed, but this is a last resort. ?A lot of the time the participant, the member of Alvie [is not] aware of what is totally inappropriate, so that's why it's not an automatic suspension or deletion of your account, because we're going to use it also as a tool to help the socialisation and understanding [of] what is appropriate and what is inappropriate at different times,? Bear explained. Once a member has joined Alvie, they input their hobbies, interests and location, along with their socialisation preferences: face to face meet up, or online only, age, geographical spread and gender. Bear said the platform is completely inclusive and does not discriminate; users just need to be over five years old, and pass a police check. To avoid bullying and ostracising, Alvie doesn?t allow group chats, and for added safety there is no video chat feature. The app allows users to drill down to an intense level of detail ? for example, not just that someone loves sport, but what team they go for ? to make it easier to strike up conversations. ?We have tried to make it as safe and as comprehensive [as possible] to make it as easy and enjoyable as possible, because we're all social creatures; humans are social creatures by nature,? Bear said. ?It's not nice when you are feeling lonely. When that's prolonged and you have enough challenges in your life to start with, let's see if we can just make it that little bit easier to live as good a life as you can and deserve to live.? Alvie will be free to use until February 18. After that time, membership will cost $120 a year, which can be claimed through NDIS funding for NDIS participants. Anthony McGrath, a disability support worker, said the two people he works with are excited to be using Alvie. ?This has been helpful in getting to know somebody before meeting them. It... gets past a bit of anxiety because obviously when we go out and meet new people, it's a bit daunting.? He said he and his two clients had looked at other social media platforms but hadn?t found anything they considered to be safe and secure. In contrast, they found Alvie easy to use and navigate. ?Breaking down that barrier of access is really, really cool and really important. So that's why we sort of gravitated towards it and tried to get involved when we could,? McGrath said. ?Obviously it's early days? but there's a lot of excitement out there in some of the other families and carers and networks and young people I talked to. So it's very exciting.?

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