Despite moves towards a more inclusive society, people with learning disabilities still face inequalities such as having less access to the internet than the general population. Given that technology is becoming increasingly important for accessing education, seeking information, searching for jobs, and forming friendships, it is vital that we understand more about this digital divide.
Despite moves towards a more inclusive society, people with learning disabilities still face inequalities such as having less access to the internet than the general population. Given that technology is becoming increasingly important for accessing education, seeking information, searching for jobs, and forming friendships, it is vital that we understand more about this digital divide. To this end, I read a paper called ‘Internet Access by People with Intellectual Disabilities: Inequalities and Opportunities’ by Darren Chadwick, Caroline Wesson and Chris Fullwood (2013). In this blog post, I will summarise their findings about the most common barriers to internet access for people with learning disabilities, the possible benefits of technology, and ideas about how to reduce these inequalities.
Barriers to Internet Access for People with Learning Disabilities
People with learning disabilities are more likely to have lower incomes than the general population and are therefore less able to afford a computer. Even if they do own one, the complexity of computers means that they are often inaccessible to people with learning disabilities. Family members or carers may be able to support people with learning disabilities when using the internet, but this depends on their own expertise, and on whether they have time.
Further challenges for people with learning disabilities in accessing the internet come from cognitive differences. For example, reading information on the internet, and communicating via email rely on being able to read and write text. This means that people who have difficulties with literacy and reading are at a disadvantage. Finding the information that they need on the internet might also be difficult for someone with learning disabilities. This is because it often takes many steps to navigate to a specific page (or blog post!), and it may be difficult for people to remember how to get there. However, if we can reduce some of these barriers to internet access, there are many potential benefits.
Potential Benefits of Internet Access for People with Learning Disabilities
For some people with learning disabilities, having a social life online reduces isolation, and gives them more freedom from their family members and carers. However, others find that issues such as trust and disclosure are more difficult when forming social relationships online. The internet can also increase opportunities for people with learning disabilities, by increasing access to educational courses, for example. Some people with learning disabilities use the internet to challenge others’ perceptions of people with a learning disability. However, this is often closely regulated by family members or carers, who are concerned about safety, and this limits the person’s ability to self-advocate.
Reducing Inequalities
Changing the way that websites and computers are designed may help people with learning disabilities to access the internet more easily. The ‘Universal design principles’ were written with this in mind, but many websites do not stick to them, and people with learning disabilities are often not included in the design process. However, there are some moves in the right direction, with the design of picture-based messaging services such as ‘SymbolChat’, which do not rely on the ability to read and write. To find out more, watch Adrian Wegener’s TED talk (see link below) about how and why we should make technology more inclusive in the future.
Thanks for reading!
Further Reading and Watching
- The paper reviewed here: Chadwick, D., Wesson, C., & Fullwood, C. (2013). Internet Access by People with Intellectual Disabilities: Inequalities and Opportunities. Future Internet, 5(3), 376–397. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/fi5030376
- A TED talk by Adrian Wegener titled ‘Why we need to shape an inclusive digital future’:
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