To include,or not to include,that is the question: Disability digital inclusion and exclusion in China

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly important for people with disabilities (PWDs), suggesting digital inclusion as a possible social mechanism against the social exclusion of disability. This study suggests a more complicated relationship between ICTs and disability. Situated in a Chinese context and based on research methods of ethnographic participant observation and in-depth interviews, this study explains why and how social exclusion of disability in China leads to PWDs’ exodus to the Internet, where they find a possible habitat of digital and social inclusion notwithstanding the risk of more profound social exclusion. The study finally argues that the Internet habitat of PWDs is both a material enclave and a discourse heterotopia for understanding Chinese society, disability, and ICTs. In addition, future studies should further include PWDs in this field.

Keywords

Digital divide digital inclusion disability ICTs social exclusion social inclusion

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