Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Social History of Access to Online Media by People with Disabilities

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Social History of Access to Online Media by People with Disabilities Accessibility is necessary for full inclusion in online spaces, and is thus a critically important dimension of increasingly technologically mediated contemporary democracies. Yet despite the existence of regulations to ensure accessibility by people with disabilities, access disparities, particularly for people with visual impairment, still exist. This study uses archival documents, open-ended interviews, and policy documents to explain the formation of accessibility policies in the United States between 1985 and 2010. It also uses analysis of media representations, including popular press and fictional portrayals, to demonstrate how disability was understood in relation to online technology during the same period. Finally, participant observation of a disability blogosphere and open-ended interviews with bloggers illustrate the continuing challenges for people with disabilities in having their accessibility needs met. Findings illuminate gaps between intended audiences, technical knowledge, disability rights, and the consumption and production of online content. By highlighting these tensions among stakeholders, and the resulting incomplete implementation of accessibility policies, this project challenges media studies' optimistic notions of participatory culture, contributes to debates about an online public sphere, and augments critical disability studies research on accommodation and equity. This project also provides a theoretical linkage between studies of the social construction of technology, and disability studies scholarship. The results of this project benefit policymakers, web developers, and web users with disabilities. In addition to contributing to the completion of a doctoral dissertation, this research will result in the creation and dissemination of policy documents to assist policymakers in closing gaps in accessibility. Findings also enable web designers to identify ways of remedying problems of differential access, and assist people with disabilities in strengthening and implementing policies and practices that further the production of accessible online media.