ECSM 2016 - Caen, France, 12-13 July 2016

1. Social Network Site Use by
Persons with Disabilities: Results
from an Italian study
Stefania Manca, Lucia Ferlino
Institute of Educational Technology
National Research Council of Italy, Genova, Italy
stefania.manca@itd.cnr.it
ECSM 2016 - Caen, France, 12-13 July 2016

2.  Among social media, the proliferation of social network
sites (SNS) has been one of the most influential phenomena.
 52% of online adults use two or more social media sites
and nearly two-thirds use social networking sites (Duggan et
al 2015; Perrin 2015).
 Adults living with a disability do not engage in networked
society at the same rate as those who did not report
disabilities (Fox, 2011).
 Despite a huge number of online community websites for
disabled people, people with disabilities are also embracing
social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
 Research on the use of SNS by disabled people is still in
its infancy.

3.  Social media and networking may serve for removing barriers
of social and institutional activities in society for disabled people
(Altinay et al, 2016).
 Individuals with disability use blogs, Facebook and Twitter in
their disability sport networks to find information, engage in
advocacy and outreach projects, as well as to expand their offline
social networks (Bundon & Clarke, 2015).
 Despite the availability of safer online environments specifically created for
disabled people, the participants expressed a preference for less specialised
social networks such as Facebook (Holmes & O’Loughlin, 2014).
 On Facebook, disabled people mostly interact with their nondisabled friends
and groups rather than with their disabled friends and groups (Shpigelman & Gill,
2014).

4. It also investigates accessibility
problems and a more general civic
engagement within associations and
groups related to disability.
Aims of the survey was to
investigate how Italian disabled
people use social network sites,
what sites are mainly used and for
what purposes.

5. Research questions
1. What is the profile of the typical Italian person with a disability who uses
social network sites?
2. What is the extent to which Italian people with disabilities use social
network sites in their daily lives?
3. What are the social network sites that Italian people with disabilities use
most?
4. What are the most recurrent activities Italian people with disabilities do
with their nondisabled friends and with their disabled friends?
5. What is the general experience of Italian people with disabilities when
using social networking sites?
6. What are the obstacles that prevent Italian people with disabilities from
using social network sites as effective inclusive tools?

6. Methodology
 A tool that was used in a previous study
(Shpigelman & Gill, 2014) with the aim of
investigating Facebook use among persons with
disability in the USA was translated and adapted.
 The final questionnaire was a tool composed of
30 questions.
 Participants were recruited from disability
groups and organizations and the survey was
also submitted to a number of Facebook groups
and pages on disability.
 The survey was implemented through
SurveyGizmo, an online program
(http://www.surveygizmo.com/) for
conducting Internet surveys that meets
internationally acknowledged accessibility
and usability standards.
 Out of 249 collected complete responses, 144
respondents reported that they used social
network sites.

7. The profile
 Most of the respondents were men mostly
over the age of 40.
 The level of education was mainly secondary
school.
 More than half of them were employed.
 Respondents reported mostly major motor
and visual disabilities.
 As far to the involvement in groups related to
disability, most of the respondents declared
membership of some kind of disability
organization.
 The use of assistive technologies such as
screen readers and special keyboards was
reported by less than half of the
respondents.
N %
Gender
Males 81 56.3
Females 62 43.1
Not reported 1 0.7
Age
13-17 2 1,4
18-19 1 0,7
20-29 19 13,2
30-39 23 16,0
40-49 44 30,6
50 and over 55 38,2
Geographical region
Northern Italy 80 55.6
Central Italy 32 22.2
Southern Italy 32 22.2
Level of education
Primary education 31 21.5
Secondary education 67 46.5
Higher education 46 31.9
Occupation
Student 13 9.0
Worker 84 58.3
Do not study or work 47 32.6
Accommodation
Family or friends 117 81.3
Alone 25 17.4
Other 2 1.4

8. Extent of use
 The respondents pointed out
Facebook as the most used SNS site.
 The majority declared using Facebook
(97.2%), while 45.8% use YouTube,
35.4% use Twitter, 35.4% use Google+,
and 28.5% use LinkedIn. Only nine out
144 reported using SNS for people
with disabilities.
 The use of other sites such as Twitter
and LinkedIn was reported to be
significantly lower than the use of
Facebook and were almost exclusively
for personal use.
from 1- never to 6- more than once a day

9. Preferred sites
 The majority visited the preferred site (mostly Facebook) at a high rate of
frequency, at least once a day.
 Percentages of those who were also members of SNS groups related to disability
were almost equivalent to those who were not.
133
3 5 2 1
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Facebook Twitter Google Plus Instagram Other

10.  The results indicated a preference for
activities carried out with
nondisabled friends and groups,
significantly higher than activities
conducted with disabled friends and
groups.
 With non-disabled friends and
groups, the most rated activities are
related to sending personal
messages, reading and receiving
messages, and hitting "like" on a
friend's update.
 With reference to disabled friends
and groups, the most rated activities
were sending personal messages,
reading and receiving messages, and
reading group updates.
Experience M SD
It helps me find people who like me 2.9 1.1
It helps me find other people with disabilities 3.1 1.1
It helps me find people without disabilities 3.3 1.1
It helps me find new online friends (people that I meet
online only) 3.3 1.1
It helps me find new online friends that I might meet
face-to-face 3.2 1.1
It helps me find old friends that I have already met face-
to-face 4.0 0.8
It allows me to practice social interactions 3.2 1.1
I can disclose my true feelings 3.0 1.2
It lets me choose how people see me 2.8 1.2
I can pretend I am different than I am 2.0 1.1
It lets me choose who I talk to 3.4 1.1
It gives me the opportunity to join groups for people
with disabilities 3.2 1.1
It gives me the opportunity to join groups for people
without disabilities 3.3 1.1
It give me the opportunity to contribute to society by
participating in online protest activities 3.2 1.3
I can spend and enjoy my leisure time online 3.6 1.0
It allows me to play online with others 2.3 1.2
It helps me reduce my sense of isolation and loneliness 3.0 1.3
It gives me the opportunity to keep updated on events
related to my studies/job 3.4 1.2
It gives me an opportunity to keep updated on events
related to my disability 3.6 1.1
It gives me an opportunity to keep in touch and share
information with schoolmates, colleagues or sports
friends 3.6 1.1

11. General experience
 Respondents mainly reported the benefits deriving from keeping in
touch with friends they already know offline and from spending
and enjoying leisure time online.
 They also expressed appreciation for the opportunity to receive
updates about news and events related to their disability, indicating
the need to enlarge their networks of acquaintances and friends.

12. Obstacles
 Accessibility and problems of Internet access are the major the obstacles that
might prevent disabled people from using SNS satisfactorily.
 Further issues were identified in problems related to navigating effortlessly
through the different sections of the site and visualizing the entire content.
 However, when asked to identify better alternatives to SNS for socialization and
inclusion, very few expressed preferences for sites of other types.
Obstacles M SD
Issues of navigation through sections of the
site 3.1 1.2
Issues of full visualization of content 3.1 1.3
Problems of comprehension of some content 3.0 1.3
Problems of Internet access 3.2 1.4
Scarce digital competencies 2.2 1.2
Issues of privacy and security 3.0 1.3
General issues of accessibility 3.3 1.4

13. Limitations and conclusion
 The study results reported the experience of a self-selected sample
of Italian people with disability.
 Participants were mainly recruited though the mailing list of
disability associations and organizations.
 Data relating to the high preference expressed for Facebook must
be interpreted cautiously as the survey received a lot of publicity on
this site.
 Despite these limitations the study constituted the first survey
exploring the online experiences of Italian disabled people.
 The study also revealed a number of issues that deserve further
investigation and that should be addressed in future studies, such
as the experience of disabled adolescents and young adults in SNS
and how to improve the functionalities of the most popular social
network sites, primarily of Facebook.

14. Thank you!
Stefania Manca
stefania.manca@itd.cnr.it