Use of social media by people with visual impairments: usage levels, attitudes and barriers

Authors:
Kristin Skeide Fuglerud;Ingvar Tjøstheim;Birkir Rúnar Gunnarsson;Morten Tollefsen
Affiliations:
Norwegian Computing Center, Oslo, Norway;Norwegian Computing Center, Oslo, Norway;Blindrafelagid, Icelandic Organization of the Visually Impaired, Reykjavik, Iceland;MediaLT, Oslo, Norway
Venue:
ICCHP'12 Proceedings of the 13th international conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs - Volume Part I
Year:
2012

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Abstract

Social medias are a central arena for participation, in social life, politics, business and working life. This paper aims to document the social media use among people with visual impairments (VI) in Norway, and to explore some barriers and motivational factors to the use of social media for this group. We present results from two surveys about social media usage among people with VI. One telephone survey was conducted among 150 members of the Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted (NABP). This survey contained questions about social media usage. The results from this quantitative survey are discussed in light of results from a web survey with more open-ended questions. The web survey was about how disabled people in Norway use social media, and what accessibility and usability challenges they experience. Through the web survey informants brings to the surface some important accessibility issues and adds nuances to the overall picture. While the telephone survey shows that a high percentage of people with VI participate in social media, the web-based survey indicate they face a variety of problems and typically use the core functionality only. Together, these two surveys give a broad picture of social media usage among people with visual impairments in Norway.