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@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
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On 4/09/13 12:46 PM, "John McNutt" <mcnuttjg@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@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Philippa Smith Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 10:10 PM To: Air list (air-l@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 ZEALAND _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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