Use of Social Media by People with Visual Impairments: Usage Levels, Attitudes and Barriers

Fuglerud, Kristin Skeide; Tjostheim, Ingvar; Gunnarsson, Birkir Rúnar; Tollefsen, Morten

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-31522-0_85

Cited by 21 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Social media usage among blind users has received attention in the research community [33], also in the context of low GDPper-capita countries [13]. An early study by Wentz and Lazar [34] concluded that Facebook for mobile devices was more accessible than web-based Facebook, but with some features missing.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A glimpse into smartphone screen reader use among blind teenagers in rural Nepal

Sankhi

Sandnes

2020

Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology

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Purpose: Access to appropriate assistive technology is a challenge worldwide and especially in low GDPper-capita countries. Nepal is one example of a country with several coinciding challenges: some claim having a high rate of blindness in the general population, a low-GDP-per capita and some studies claim it has a low literacy rate, especially in rural areas. Without appropriate assistive technology, some disabled youth may not get full access to education. Methods: To gain insight into assistive technology use in rural Nepal, five blind teenagers in a mixed secondary school with disabled and non-disabled students in rural Nepal were interviewed about their daily smartphone use. Results: The results show that all the participants used screen readers on donated smartphones. None of the participants had received formal training in using smartphone screen readers and therefore lacked knowledge about basic and essential operational aspects of the devices as well as misguided expectations about the technology. Conclusions: One implication of the findings is that smartphone accessibility features training material needs to be made easily available to schools and all disabled youth worldwide, as smartphones are increasingly becoming available in low-income remote regions with low literacy rates. The built-in accessibility features of smartphones promise disabled youth a non-stigmatizing platform for social participation and access to the information society. ä IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION The built-in accessibility features of smartphones provide disabled youth a non-stigmatizing practical platform for social participation and access to education. Training material on how to use smartphone accessibility features needs to be made easily available to schools and all disabled youth worldwide.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A glimpse into smartphone screen reader use among blind teenagers in rural Nepal

Sankhi

Sandnes

2020

Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology

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“…While accessibility barriers in terms of online government services may be a significant issue in its own right, people with disabilities face even greater challenges in their endeavours to achieve online participation. Research into social media and accessibility (Borrino, et al, 2009;Dale, et al, 2012;Fuglerud, et al, 2012;Hollier, 2012;Holone, 2012) found that people with disabilities often struggled to access popular social media Web sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn due to Web accessibility issues, preventing their opportunity for participation, despite social media offering some disability-specific benefits such as assisting a hearing impaired person explain the nature of the disability via Facebook prior to attending a social event, a legally blind person seeking employment via LinkedIn and the ability to overcome transportation issues in getting food by finding local pizza delivery vouchers on Facebook. As social media has become the norm for many people in terms of their social and professional communication, so have corporate and government entities around the world embraced tools such as Facebook and Twitter as tertiary communication channels with their clients and citizens (Hilts and Yu, 2011;Mousavi and Pimenidis, 2014;Kim, et al, 2008;Harris and Dennis, 2011;Lassen and Brown, 2011;Waters and Williams, 2011;Bertot, et al, 2012;Joseph, 2012;Illia and Balmer, 2012;Magro, 2012;Piotrowski, 2012;Unsworth and Townes, 2012;Bonsón and Ratkai, 2013;Haigh, et al, 2013;Pérez Dasilva, et al, 2013;Kwok and Yu, 2013;Lieberman, et al, 2013;Linke and Zerfass, 2013;Thomas and Akdere, 2013;Nwagbara and Reid, 2013;Khan, Yoon, Kim and Park, 2014;Lillqvist and Louhiala-Salminen, 2014;Mendez, et al, 2014;Soon and Soh, 2014).…”

Section: Access Issues In Social Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

The challenges of Web accessibility: The technical and social aspects of a truly universal Web

Brown

Hollier²

2015

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This paper explores the concept of Web accessibility and how technologies, guidelines and policies have evolved since the turn of the twenty-first century in order to address the ideals of equitable access to online content for all people. The paper discusses the high availability of assistive technologies built into consumer devices and the associated accessibility guidelines for Web sites and content. Through examination of the literature, this paper shows that the accessible design and assessment of Web sites can be complicated, and that social media, corporate and government Web sites are yet to fully realise the goals of an accessible Web. The paper concludes with the view that disability awareness, more than technology and policy, is perhaps the primary obstacle to a more universally accessible Web.

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“…Investigations have shown that on line interaction by visually impaired and blind users can foster feelings of being less isolated and more socially connected, either with peers or their community in general [2,32,35,36]. This user group consists of enthusiastic users of social media [2,5,11,16,30]. However, they can also encounter significant barriers when accessing web content in general [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Whitney

Kolar

2019

Univ Access Inf Soc

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Use of Social Media by People with Visual Impairments: Usage Levels, Attitudes and Barriers

Cited by 21 publications

References 10 publications

A glimpse into smartphone screen reader use among blind teenagers in rural Nepal

A glimpse into smartphone screen reader use among blind teenagers in rural Nepal

The challenges of Web accessibility: The technical and social aspects of a truly universal Web

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