This article explores inclusivity in the context of digital politics. As online campaigns and digital participation become increasingly central to democratic politics, it is essential to better understand the implications of this shift for marginalized and politically vulnerable people. Focusing on people with disabilities, this study applies a grounded theory approach to investigate what factors shape inclusivity in digital politics and begins to theorize this under-researched concept. Through interviews with self-advocates and election professionals with disabilities involved in innovative digital mobilization efforts for progressive US political organizations and campaigns, as well as a review of related strategies, this article illuminates digital inclusivity as a “process” connected to, but also distinct from the “outcomes” of social and political inclusion and exclusion. Key incentives and obstacles are identified, and emerging principles of digital inclusivity that are simultaneously community-rooted and sensitive to the context of contemporary US politics are discussed.
CatonSChapmanM (2016) The use of social media and people with intellectual disability: a systematic review and thematic analysis. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability41(2): 125–139.
DobranskyKHargittaiE (2016) Unrealized potential: exploring the disability digital divide. Poetics58: 18–28.
9.
EllisKKentM (2017) Introduction: social disability. In: EllisKKentM (eds) Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives. New York: Routledge, pp. 1–10.
10.
EllisKGogginGKentM (2015) Disability’s digital frictions: activism, technology and politics. The Fibreculture Journal26: 7–31.
11.
García-BedollaLHaynieKL (2013) The Obama coalition and the future of American politics. Politics, Groups, and Identities1(1): 128–133.
12.
GelmanAGoelSRiversD, et al. (2016) The mythical swing voter. Quarterly Journal of Political Science11(1): 103–130.
13.
GuldvikILesjøJH (2014) Disability, social groups and political citizenship. Disability and Society29(4): 516–529.
14.
HallerBA (2017) Disability rights activism globally. In: TumberHWaisbordS (eds) The Routledge Companion to Media and Human Rights. New York: Routledge, pp. 300–308.
15.
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) (2014) Equal Access: How to Include Persons with Disabilities in Elections and Political Processes. Washington, DC: IFES.
16.
JacksonSJBaileyMWellesBF (2020) #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
17.
KreissDJasinskiC (2016) The tech industry meets presidential politics: explaining the Democratic Party’s technological advantage in electoral campaigning, 2004–2012. Political Communication33(4): 544–562.
18.
ListerRCamplingJ (2003) Citizenship: Feminist Perspectives. New York: NYU Press.
19.
LivingstoneSHelsperE (2007) Gradations in digital inclusion: children, young people and the digital divide. New Media & Society9(4): 671–696.
20.
LoaderB (1998) Cyberspace divide: equality, agency and policy in the information society. In: LoaderB (ed.) Cyberspace Divide: Equality, Agency and Policy in the Information Society. London: Routledge, pp. 3–16.
21.
MannBW (2018) Rhetoric of online disability activism: #CripTheVote and civic participation. Communication Culture & Critique11(4): 604–621.
MinS-J (2010) From the digital divide to the democratic divide: internet skills, political interest, and the second-level digital divide in political internet use. Journal of Information Technology & Politics7(1): 22–35.
24.
MossbergerKTolbertCJMcNealRS (2007) Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
25.
NorrisP (2001) Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
26.
PowellSJohnsonA (2019) Patterns and mechanisms of political participation among people with disabilities. Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law44(3): 381–422.
27.
PrinceMJ (2009) Absent Citizens: Disability Politics and Policy in Canada. Toronto, ON, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
SchurLKruseDBlanckP (2013) People with Disabilities: Sidelined or Mainstreamed?Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
33.
SépulchreM (2020) Ensuring equal citizenship for disabled people: a matter of rights or a matter of costs?Alter14(2): 114–127.
34.
TrevisanF (2016) Disability Rights Advocacy Online: Voice, Empowerment and Global Connectivity. New York: Routledge.
35.
TrevisanF (2018) Connective action mechanisms in a time of political turmoil: virtual disability rights protest at Donald Trump’s inauguration. Australian Journal of Political Science53(1): 103–115.
36.
TrevisanF (2019) Using the Internet to mobilize marginalized groups: people with disabilities and digital campaign strategies in the 2016 US presidential election. International Journal of Communication13: 1592–1611.
37.
TrevisanFBelloBVaughanM, et al. (2020) Mobilizing personal narratives: the rise of digital “story banking” in U.S. grassroots advocacy. Journal of Information Technology and Politics17(2): 146–160.
38.
TsatsouP (2011) Digital divides revisited: what is new about divides and their research?Media. Culture & Society33(2): 317–331.
39.
TsatsouP (2020a) Digital inclusion of people with disabilities: a qualitative study of intra-disability diversity in the digital realm. Behaviour & Information Technology39(9): 995–1010.
40.
TsatsouP (2020b) Is digital inclusion fighting disability stigma? Opportunities, barriers, and recommendations. Disability & Society. Epub ahead of print 6 May. DOI: 10.1080/09687599.2020.1749563.
41.
TsatsouP (2021) Vulnerable people’s digital inclusion: intersectionality patterns and associated lessons. Information, Communication and Society. Epub ahead of print 6 March. DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2021.1873402.
42.
van DeursenAHelsperE (2015) The third-level digital divide: who benefits most from being online?Communication and Information Technologies Annual10: 29–52.
43.
VerbaSLehman SchlozmanKBradyH (1995) Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
44.
WarschauerM (2004) Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
45.
World Health Organization (WHO) (2011) World Report on Disability 2011. Geneva: WHO.
