Unrealized potential: Exploring the digital disability divide

Highlights

• People with disabilities (PWD) are less likely to use the Internet and are less likely to engage in a wide range of activities when online.

• However, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, PWD are no less likely to engage in any activities online, and are more likely to engage in some.

• The five activities involve key areas of online production and consumption, such as sharing content, reviewing products and writing reviews.

• Results show that barriers for PWD going online exist, but the online world may offer a means to adapt to an inaccessible culture and society.

Abstract

While the digital inequality literature has considered differences in the online experiences of many population segments, relatively little work has examined how people with disabilities (PWD) have incorporated digital media into their lives. Based on a national survey of American adults, this paper explores this question through considering both barriers to Internet use and the possibilities the Internet offers PWD. Findings indicate barriers for many PWD to accessing the Internet. Those with five of six types of disabilities measured are considerably less likely to be online than those who are not disabled. People who are deaf or hearing impaired to do not lag in Internet access once we account for demographics, Web use skills, and Internet experiences. However, the study also finds evidence that once online, PWD engage in a range of uses of the Internet as much as people without disability. Moreover, PWD take distinct interest in certain online activities, such as sharing their own content and reviewing products and services, pointing to ways they may go online to adapt and respond to the wider inaccessible society. These findings indicate great potential for the Internet for people with disabilities and suggest that moving more of them online holds the potential for considerable gains among this group.

Introduction

Among the ways in which social inequality plays out in contemporary society, increasing attention is being paid to access and use of digital technologies (see Hargittai & Hsieh, 2013 for a review of related literature). Digital media are viewed as increasingly important resources for participating in a range of domains in today’s world and considerable research has documented how digital inequality plays out across society. Lack of basic access to or skills for exploiting these resources can have important effects on one’s relationships, work life, and overall quality of life (DiMaggio, Hargittai, Celeste, & Shafer, 2004). Disability is a major site of diversity and inequality in society, but analysis of it as such has lagged behind that of other social factors when it comes to digital media uses (for exceptions, see Dobransky and Hargittai, 2006, Ellis and Kent, 2011, Goggin and Newell, 2003, Jaeger, 2012, Vicente and López, 2010). Incorporating this variable into investigations of digital inequality is important because, unlike other social statuses, disability is one that most everyone can expect to occupy at some point in their lives (Siebers, 2008).

People with disabilities (PWD) are stigmatized and excluded in many domains of life, with consequences for their health and wealth (Shifrer, 2013; Hatzenbuehler, Phelan, & Link, 2013). In addition to being a marginalized status in its own right, disability also tends to overlap with other disadvantaged positions in society, multiplying exclusion. PWD are disproportionately represented among people with lower socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic minorities (Brault, 2012, Warner and Brown, 2011). While digital media have the potential to level the playing field for those with disabilities, relatively little research examines how PWD compare to others in incorporating such resources into their everyday lives. This paper addresses this gap in the literature.