University of Twente Student Theses

Disabilities and ICTs: is digital inclusion possible? : A qualitative interview study about internet skills and how people with disabilities are adopting them in the context of today’s ever changing technological landscape

Lüggert, A. (2023) Disabilities and ICTs: is digital inclusion possible? : A qualitative interview study about internet skills and how people with disabilities are adopting them in the context of today’s ever changing technological landscape.

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Abstract:	The inclusion of people with disabilities and the support they receive from society is nowadays better than ever. However, there is still an evident lack when it comes to their online presence and, therefore their level of skills obtained to operate and navigate successfully on the internet. This lack of skills is argued to be the causeed because of a lack of cognitive abilities to even obtain the needed internet skills. Therefore, this study focused on filling the gap in the literature by focusing on the people with the main experienced impairments namely a visual, hearing, or mobility disability by having a semi-structured interview study conducted consisting of 18 respondents in total with a questionnaire based on the pre-existing Internet skill scale (ISS). The purpose was to be able to answer the research question „How can individuals help a vulnerable group (people with disabilities) in adopting the necessary internet skills needed nowadays considering challenges that such groups are faced with?“ in the end. The outcome of the interview study indicates the real problem is directly located at the design of the website-designers and -providers themselves and not the lack of cognitive abilities of the people with disabilities. This is the case as the design of most websites are hardly or non-accessible at all for people with disabilities due to, for instance, their general poor labelling and design of buttons. Overall, the study contributed to a new understanding of people with disabilities and their way of operating, navigating, and communicating on the internet. Additionally, it helped projecting the general proposed problem from a different angle namely, to show that the stereotypical beliefs related to people with disabilities generally needs to be thought over again and different approaches are necessary to not conclude too early.
Item Type:	Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Programme:	Communication Studies BSc (56615)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/94779
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