Digital Inclusion Of People Research Articles

Education and social work students’ perceptions of Internet use by people with and without intellectual disability

Educators and social workers are essential to promote the social and digital inclusion of people with intellectual disability. Their perceptions about Internet use by people with intellectual disability may lead to prejudices that can hinder the opportunity of this group to get equal and meaningful access to the virtual arena. To identify potential prejudices among future professionals and to determine their initial training needs, a cross-sectional survey study was conducted. The aim was to examine and compare 433 education and social work students’ perceptions about Internet use by people with and without intellectual disability, in terms of online benefits, risks and safety. Results showed that students perceived the Internet to be more beneficial, but also riskier and less safe, for people with intellectual disability than for the general population. Differences were observed with regard to gender, university degree and frequency of contact with people with intellectual disability and a positive relationship was found between students’ Internet use and their perceived online benefits, risks and safety. These findings highlight the need for initial training programs that overcome future professionals’ prejudices towards people with intellectual disability and their capability to use the Internet safely.

A roadmap towards mobile applications with accessibility for visually impaired users: guideline and its evaluation

When applications intend to support accessibility, several aspects of interface design and usability must be reviewed to adapt or extend common functional requirements that are implemented to ensure easy use of applications. However, initiatives to develop guidelines for accessible mobile applications are recent and several approaches present only suggestions rather than a concrete list of requirements. It is becoming increasingly apparent not only the need for social and digital inclusion of people with disabilities but also the urgency to make devices and applications truly accessible to anyone. This work focuses on accessibility requirements for visually impaired users and it is part of a broader effort that involves different types of impairments. Our research method was based on three main steps. First, from an initial set of 1014 scientific and technical articles, 46 were analyzed to identify requirements that are related to visual impairments. Second, we carried out an observation-based analysis to confirm the importance of these requirements, considering a set of accessibility tests with impaired volunteers. Third, the Design Thinking process was used to implement an application prototype, considering the most important requirements that were identified along with the two first steps. This application was submitted to a user-centered evaluation with volunteers, which also supported the evolution of our requirements. We sought to include prior knowledge aligned with all pre-identified requirements, culminating in something that would add to the procedure greater validation. As the main result, this paper presents the complete roadmap of this process, which resulted in a guideline and evaluation method to support the integration of accessibility aspects into mobile applications.

Digital inclusion of people with disabilities: a qualitative study of intra-disability diversity in the digital realm

ABSTRACT This paper presents an in-depth study of intra-disability diversity in the digital realm and the related role of individuality and selectiveness in the digital choices and experiences of people with disabilities (PwD). The study adopts the interactionist model of disability and problematises conceptual uniformity in research that focuses on the medical and socially-constructed features of disability as those determining digital constraints and affordances for PwD. Through primary qualitative evidence, it argues that individuality and selectiveness shape a complex terrain of intra-disability diversity, which forms the nuances and experiences of digital inclusion for PwD. Thus, it invites researchers to move beyond disability-fixed categorisations and offers a 3-tier recommendation for future research to explain the range of PwD’ perceptions and experiences in the digital realm.

Avaliação de Acessibilidade Digital para Pessoas com Deficiência Motora em Repositórios Educacionais Abertos

In the age of the information society, it has become imperative to consider the importance of actions aimed at digital accessibility as a way of dealing with the barriers that impact on the digital inclusion of people with disabilities. The purpose of this study is to evaluate two Open Educational Repositories, namely “Portal Domínio Público” and “Portal do Professor”, to verify if they meet the recommendations of the eMAG - Accessibility Model in Electronic Government. In particular, only those recommendations concerning persons with motor disabilities are considered. In relation to the research method, an exploratory study was carried out, divided in three stages: study of the eMAG model, which is the basis of the assessment; selection of repositories, the objects of this study; and, finally, assessment of the repositories. It was verified that both repositories do not comply with all the recommendations of the Federal Government. A letter of suggestions and constructive criticism was sent to each of the repositories.

Voices Project: Technological Innovations in Social Inclusion of People with Visual Impairment

This article aims to analyze how technological innovations are contributing to inclusion of people with disabilities in society and at work, from the study of social innovations, assistive technology and digital inclusion presented in a case study on the Voices Project. The project, developed in partnership with the Association of Parents and Friends of the Blind and the Federal Technological University of Parana, in the years 2008/2009, made a computer course for people with visual impairments. The theoretical survey and project data confirmed that social innovations really are essential tools for digital inclusion of people with disabilities contributing thus to their inclusion in the workplace.