[Air-L] critical work on Internet access and accessibility for people with disabilities?

Tue Sep 3 20:48:33 PDT 2013

Gerard

Hi - I would agree with your broad point. However I think one needs to be careful when using the term disability when in fact describing impairment. Many technological devices designed to enhance functional capacity are a response to impairment. In essence as you note this is a bio mechanical response to a persons impairment. 

Disablement is a much broader concept encompassing technological / social / cultural / economic exclusion resulting from the impairment.  

It is in the exclusion we learn a lot about privilege and perceived norms. For example in a multicultural countries such as Australia, Canada etc the publicly anthropometric measurements are based on a very small subset of body shapes and sizes - generally young men women joining armed forces. As a result, they exclude a broad range of people from the supposed norm. So design and concepts of universal design are fundamentally flawed, as  they are based on a set of data which at its core is exclusionary. 

Those are just a few thoughts 

Andrew Clark 

Andrew Clark

On 04/09/2013, at 1:10 PM, Gerard Goggin <gerard.goggin at sydney.edu.au> wrote:

> Hi Philippa, and Air-L colleagues,
> 
> Great that you are embarking on this project.
> 
> Just to add to John and Michael's suggestions, my observation - having
> co-authored the 2003 'Digital Disability' book, & written various things
> since - is while there is now much more research/literature available on
> Internet and disabilities, there is still surprisingly little critical
> literature on disability and the Internet.
> 
> There is Katie Ellis and Mike Kent's terrific 'Disability & New Media'
> (2011, Routledge), as well as Mike Jaeger's 'Disability & the Internet:
> Confronting a Digital Divide' (Rienner, 2011).
> 
> Also very important is Karen Peltz Strauss's 'A New Civil Right:
> Telecommunications Equality for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Americans'
> (Gaulladet, 2006).
> 
> And quite a few other important papers, not least the special issue of ICS
> you note.
> 
> However, and I hope I'm wrong on this, the potential cross-over between,
> say, Internet studies, and, on the other hand, critical disability studies
> lies ahead.
> 
> Now, the point you raise about the intersection between health and
> disability in relation to Internet technologies is interesting.
> 
> My theory is that there is a lot of health technologies that are really
> about disability (or engage disability & design in some way). But this is
> not recognised. 
> 
> And, here's my simple version of the argument, this is because the
> biomedical model is dominant in relation to health technologies -- rather
> than an acknowledgement of the social/cultural/political shaping of
> disability (and health) in what we take to be interventions into health
> and well-being.
> 
> In any case, I hope this is useful, and very best wishes with your
> research.
> 
> Gerard Goggin
> 
> -- 
> \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
> Gerard Goggin
> Professor and Chair
> Department of Media and Communications
> University of Sydney
> 
> e: gerard.goggin at sydney.edu.au
> <applewebdata://58CAECF0-6F6E-47A3-9980-953EE0F9094E/gerard.goggin@sydney.e
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 4/09/13 12:46 PM, "John McNutt" <mcnuttjg at netzero.com> wrote:
> 
>> Try looking at the literature in assistive technology.  There is some very
>> good theoretical material and a lot of practical literature.  It is a
>> robust
>> field and almost all of it deals with the problems of the physically and
>> mentally challenged (not all of it, however, deals with ICTs).  Good luck
>> with your search.
>> 
>> John McNutt
>> Professor
>> University of Delaware
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
>> [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Philippa Smith
>> Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 10:10 PM
>> To: Air list (air-l at listserv.aoir.org)
>> Subject: [Air-L] Internet access and accessibility for people with
>> disabilities
>> 
>> Dear AOIR members,
>> 
>> I am currently searching the academic literature to  help me in my
>> preparation of a research proposal about internet access and accessibility
>> for people with disabilities here in New Zealand. This will consider not
>> only difficulties in being 'connected' but also what the needs are of
>> people
>> in using computers/the Internet whether they have impairments relating to
>> vision or hearing, or who suffer from physical conditions as a result of
>> diseases such as Parkinson's Disease or arthritis. Really anything in the
>> health area that is relevant to this topic and it should extend to include
>> anything about the benefits of the Internet for people with disabilities
>> such as empowerment.
>> 
>> I am aware that the Pew Report does cover this to some extent, and have
>> also
>> found Dobransky and Harigattai's 2006 paper titled 'The disability divide
>> in
>> Internet access and use' in Information Communication and Society to be
>> useful. But if anyone can offer or direct me to further material I would
>> be
>> very grateful.
>> 
>> Kind regards
>> 
>> Philippa
>> 
>> Philippa K Smith, PhD
>> Research Manager
>> Institute of Culture, Discourse & Communication AUT University Auckland
>> NEW
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