Government visions of a digital future show little indication of how disabled people, reliant on access technology, will participate. Access technology has the potential to offer independent use of the Internet but many disabled people already face barriers which prevent them having equitable digital experiences.Multiple obstacles include high set-up costs, inadequate technical support and exclusive design practices. Due to the high levels of personalisation required, many disabled people are restricted to using computers at home. As a result their problems with access often remain unacknowledged and hidden behind closed doors. As online governance of welfare gathers pace, so greater awareness of the diversity of ways in which disabled people interact with digital environments is called for. Without this, government expansion into digital-only welfare risks isolating even further those who have the most to gain. Awareness of barriers to digital access needs to be highlighted. Barriers can be grouped into three sequential layers. The first is the price of access technology. This is high in comparison to computer equipment bought from mainstream retailers. Screen reading and text scanning programs cost many hundreds of pounds plus additional costs of upgrading. For disabled people on fixed incomes, the finance alone can create insurmountable obstacles. Where the technology is in place, the second layer of barriers concern the procurement of appropriate training. Access technology requires specialist support, seldom available from local computer stores or independent retailers. Where training packages are offered, much time can be spent in orientation 4 rather than applying knowledge to practice. Online support which assumes visual and audio acuity is not always appropriate. Face-to-face support is overly expensive as is telephone assistance which uses premium rate numbers and fails to take into account the degree of individual personalisation required. As if this were not enough, starting out with computers requires a complex mix of initial knowledge and skills. A standard computer keyboard can pose unsolvable mysteries to the uninitiated; zoom commands which increase the size of the content on screen are a useful and free aid for magnification but the necessary key combination can be difficult to find. Additional function keys and a numeric keypad increase opportunities for potential confusion and, as if the learning curve were not steep enough, Internet safety guidelines, including awareness of viruses, scams and how to shop online securely, are all essential knowledge. The media promotes online shopping as convenient and moneysaving and for people with mobility or sensory impairment this can be a prime reason for using the Internet. However, online retail environments involve multiple form filling and these can be inaccessible to screen reading software. The additional layers of security designed to safeguard financial transactions make it impossible for many users to complete purchases in particular where text...

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BiographyCurrently a teaching and learning co-ordinator in the Centre for Educational Research and Development (CERD), Sue has over 20 years' experience in education: in adult and community education, social services and for the past 12 years at the University of Lincoln where she supports staff in the use of virtual learning environments. She has a particular interest in the social impact of the internet and issues of digital inclusion. Sue has MAs in gender studies and open and distance education and is currently undertaking doctoral research based around teaching and learning in a digital age. She has professional accreditation as a learning technologist with the Association for Learning Technology (CMALT), is a member of the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). AbstractAt the University of Lincoln, the student as producer agenda is seeking to disrupt consumer-based learning relationships by reinventing the undergraduate curriculum along the lines of research-engaged teaching. The open education movement, with its emphasis on creative commons and collaborative working practices, also disrupts traditional and formal campus-based education. This paper looks at the linkages between the Student as Producer project and the processes of embedding open educational practice at Lincoln. Both reinforce the need for digital scholarship and the prerequisite digital literacies that are essential for learning in a digital age.

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