‘They think I’m really cool and nice’: The impact of Internet support on the social networks and loneliness of young people with disabilities

Raghavendra, Parimala; Grace, Emma; Newman, Lareen; Wood, Denise; Connell, Timothy Minton

doi:10.7790/tja.v63i2.414

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…A similar pattern was seen after intervention in the larger study of youth without CCN (Raghavendra et al, 2013b). There is little research using the ALSDQ in youth with disabilities and these five participants did not have high levels of loneliness to begin with.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Learning to use the Internet and online social media: What is the effectiveness of home-based intervention for youth with complex communication needs?

Grace

Raghavendra

Newman

et al. 2014

Child Language Teaching and Therapy

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Youth with complex communication needs (CCN) face increased barriers to their social participation due to limited communication abilities and opportunities. Youth today use the internet as a social tool and youth with CCN may also benefit from internet use to increase their social participation. Five youth between the ages of 10–18 with CCN who are unable to use speech for everyday communication and require augmentative and alternative communication were provided with assistive technology and a tailored 1:1 intervention at home to learn to use the internet for connecting with others. Pre and post assessments measured changes in performance on internet use goals, social networks, loneliness and self-concept. Multiple measures were used to examine the impact of internet use for social networking on a range of outcomes and to gather emerging evidence in this area. Results showed that the intervention was effective in increasing performance and satisfaction with goals for increasing internet use to connect with others and for increasing the number of online communication partners. There was no significant change in loneliness or self-concept. This study shows that the internet may be a viable tool in increasing the social participation of youth with CCN. However, some youth and their families required intensive support and technical assistance to gain confidence in internet use and in use for social purposes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Learning to use the Internet and online social media: What is the effectiveness of home-based intervention for youth with complex communication needs?

Grace

Raghavendra

Newman

et al. 2014

Child Language Teaching and Therapy

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“…Our approach, drawing on Bourdieu's theories of capital, has allowed us to identify how young people with disabilities differ from their peers who do not have disabilities in the nature and extent of Internet use. We identified that they face many barriers and facilitators: varying functional abilities in areas of physical, cognitive and literacy skills and limited offline social networks; they also face environmental factors such as limited access to appropriate assistive technology, parents' fear of their children being online and parents' low expectations of their children's online potential (Raghavendra et al, , , ; Grace et al, ). The findings also confirm previous findings among children without disabilities that home/family resources can impact on young people's IT use.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying a critical approach to investigate barriers to digital inclusion and online social networking among young people with disabilities

Newman

Browne‐Yung

Raghavendra

et al. 2016

Information Systems Journal

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Despite the seeming ubiquity of young people's Internet use, there are still many for whom access to the Internet and online social networking remains inequitable and patterned by disadvantage. The connection between information technology and young people with disabilities is particularly under-researched. This article contributes to the field of critical information systems research by exposing significant barriers and facilitators to Internet accessibility for young people with disabilities. It uses Bourdieu's critical theory to explore how the unequal distribution of resources shapes processes of digital inclusion for young people with disabilities. It highlights access needs and experiences that are both disability and non-disability related. The article draws on interviews in South Australia with 18 young people aged 10-18 years with a physical disability (such as cerebral palsy) or acquired brain injury and with 17 of their family members. Interviews evaluated participants' and parents' reflections on the benefits of a home-based, goaloriented intervention to increase the young person's Internet use for social participation purposes. The Bourdieuian analysis demonstrated how varying levels of accrued individual and family offline capital resources are related to digital/online resources and disability-specific online resources. This revealed how unequal resources of capital can influence technology use and hence digital inclusion for young people with disabilities. Our study demonstrates that young people with particular types of disabilities require intensive, personalised and long-term support from within and beyond the family to 'get online'. We conclude that Internet studies need to more frequently adopt critical approaches to investigate the needs of users

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“…Positive outcomes have been reported for participants in both performance and satisfaction when socialising online (using games, Skype™, Chat, Facebook™, Twitter™, videos, email, Livewire™, and blogging) [46,47,50,51]. Currently, Hemsley et al [52] are investigating the use of Twitter™ for people with lifelong, acquired, and progressive physical and communication disabilities (i.e., people with: cerebral palsy; stroke; motor neurone disease) to increase information exchange and active online participation [52].…”

Section: Injury (Tbi)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of the literature on the use of social media by people with traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Brunner

Hemsley

Palmer

et al. 2015

Disability and Rehabilitation

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‘They think I’m really cool and nice’: The impact of Internet support on the social networks and loneliness of young people with disabilities

Abstract: . 2013. 'They think I'm really cool and nice': The impact of Internet support on the social networks and loneliness of young people with disabilities.

Cited by 14 publications

References 21 publications

Learning to use the Internet and online social media: What is the effectiveness of home-based intervention for youth with complex communication needs?

Learning to use the Internet and online social media: What is the effectiveness of home-based intervention for youth with complex communication needs?

Applying a critical approach to investigate barriers to digital inclusion and online social networking among young people with disabilities

Review of the literature on the use of social media by people with traumatic brain injury (TBI)

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