Characteristics of a Virtual Community for Individuals Who Are d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Abstract

T he content of 2,050 messages on a virtual forum for d/Deaf and hard of hearing people in Israel was analyzed. Interactions and behavior were monitored to determine if behavior on the forum expressed social support, and whether the community was an entirely virtual community or a real community whose members also met in other venues. Subjects discussed in messages included technical difficulties, coping with difficulties presented by hearing loss, adjusting to assistive devices, difficulties at school and work, accessibility issues, difficulties communicating with the hearing world, and rights. Messages were also used to initiate a range of social activities. Classification of behaviors per the Social Support Behavior Code (Cutrona & Suhr, 1992) showed that most were in the category of informational support . Other types of support in the model, tangible assistance, emotional support, social network support, and esteem support, were evident in fewer messages.

Community building and knowledge sharing by individuals with disabilities using social media

“…Practice refers to the specific knowledge developed, shared, and maintained within a social networking community. In Shoham and Heber (2012), types of specific knowledge shared included the physical, emotional, and medical difficulties associated with having a disability as well as disability rights and employment opportunities.…”

Elaboração e avaliação de um website sobre o desenvolvimento da linguagem infantil: portal dos bebês - desenvolvimento da linguagem

“…For this, the internet has been a valuable tool for dissemination of speech therapy knowledge. As for virtual mentoring programs is crucial that they are a source of information and social support playing an important role in the transmission of information 12 .…”

“…Several studies that verify the acceptance of the population had the opposite telehealth user approval 12,16 . The same result was found in this study, in which all evaluators classified the website as satisfactory and excellent.…”

Impacto psicosocial de los productos y tecnologías de apoyo para la comunicación en personas con discapacidad auditiva y personas sordas

“…Este problema se debe a la falta de servicios que faciliten el aprendizaje de la lengua de signos para personas oyentes o la traducción de los textos a la lengua de signos (Boulares & Jemni, 2012). Así, en la mayor parte de los foros sobre tecnologías virtuales se puede observar que las personas sordas afirman la existencia de dificultades técnicas, un mal ajuste de los productos de apoyo, problemas en la accesibilidad y dificultades tanto en la comunicación como en el reconocimiento de sus derechos (Shoham & Heber, 2012 Otros productos de apoyo para personas sordas y personas con discapacidad auditiva…”

“…En cada uno de estos apartados podemos encontrar trabajos relacionados con cada uno de los productos de apoyo que han sido objeto de estudio en la parte empírica de esta Tesis Doctoral: audífonos, implante coclear y sistemas de intermediación por vídeo. (Jutai & Saunders, 2003) Visión negativa del producto o expectativas altas (Saunders, Lewis & Forsline, 2009;Meister, Walger, Brehmer, von Wedel & von Wedel, 2008) No aceptación de la discapacidad (Rawool, 2000) Depresión (Kockin & Rogin, 2000;Boi et al, 2012) Mejora de calidad de vida, bienestar y capacidad funcional Knutson, Johnson & Murray, 2006Klop et al, 2008Caposecco, Hickson & Pedley, 2012Kobosko et al, 2012Buhagiar & Lutman, 2011Yeagle et al, 2010Zhao et al, 2008 Mejora de la calidad de vida, bienestar psicológico, independencia, autoestima y desempeño Götherström, Persson, & Jonsson, 2004Saladin & Hansmann, 2008 Producto de apoyo Mal funcionamiento/fallo (Billari, 2009;Wood Lutman, 2004) Configuración complicada (Desjardins & Doherty, 2009) No emparejado con necesidades (Jutai & Bortolussi, 2003) Estética (Belle, 2005;Pollard, 1996) Coste ( (Erler & Garstecki, 2002;Southall, Gagné & Jennings, 2010) Socialmente inaceptable (Kermit, 2012;Zola, 1993) Accesibilidad (Shoham & Heber, 2012) Justificación A lo largo de la primera parte de esta Tesis Doctoral se ha mostrado que la investigación, el desarrollo y la innovación en el campo de los PA y las nuevas tecnologías han crecido de manera importante durante la última década. No obstante, aún existe poca investigación respect...…”