Technology and inclusion

Under this sub-theme, Laura Alčiauskaitė, Tally Hatzakis, and Alexandra König explore the views of persons with disabilities on assistive technologies as a means to independent living. The paper sets the scene with two aspects of the relationship between persons with disabilities and assistive technologies. First, the fact that the CRPD grants persons with disabilities the right to equal access to assistive technologies. Secondly, the potential that assistive technologies provide persons with disabilities in terms of improvements in functioning, participation in education and work, increased independence and ultimately an enhanced sense of social inclusion. The authors then goes on to provide an overview of the issues with the access to assistive technologies that persons with disabilities face. She cites previous literature that shows the existence of a digital divide between persons with disabilities and the general population, the lack of funding for assistive technologies and the lack of involvement of persons with disabilities in the research being conducted on this topic, among other issues. The authors  then presents the findings of her research and goes into detail explaining the most desirable assistive technologies among persons with disabilities, the preferences specific to different disabilities and the conditions required for persons with disabilities to display a willingness to use assistive technologies.

In “Access to knowledge through digital inclusion: The case of students with visual disabilities in Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco”, Hanan Zaafarani analyses the digital accessibility available to students with visual impairments. Utilizing a qualitative approach, Ms. Zaafarani infers that although there exists an enabling environment that seeks to achieve digital inclusion for students with visual disabilities, there remains ample room for improvement. Ms. Zaafarani’s recommendations on how to fill those gaps included techniques such as providing free Internet access to students with disabilities and improving the accessibility of a number of digital applications in the field of transportation.