Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
3.1.3 Improving Social Inclusion
Social exclusion refers to the multiple and changing factors which can
cause people to be “ excluded from normal exchanges, practices and rights
of modern society ” (Commission of the European Communities 1993).
There are several factors which can contribute to social exclusion, such as
economic, educational, political, health and ability, or geographical fac-
tors. Although there are concerns that 'digital divides' might exacerbate
social exclusion, there are also hopes that the new digital technologies can
be exploited to promote social inclusion.
Information and communications technologies overcome distances in
both space and time, ignore geographical and political boundaries, and can
help to overcome limitations on social participation caused, for example,
by disability. Connected individuals can therefore potentially participate in
a wide range of activities which might otherwise have been impossible,
leading to a more inclusive society. A number of ground-breaking initia-
tives have been carried out with groups at particular risk of exclusion;
some of these are discussed in more detail in Chapter 5. In the UK, for
example, there have been projects such as 'Womenspeak' (a project using
interactive ICT to link Parliamentarians and survivors of domestic vio-
lence) (Moran 2002), and a project to give Irish women travellers an online
voice. Similar projects have been carried out with Asian women (Moran
2000).
A survey carried out for the US National Organisation on Disability in
2000 found that 48% of disabled people said that going online significantly
increased their quality of life, compared to 27% of non-disabled people. In
the UK, a study for the Leonard Cheshire Foundation (Knight et al. 2002)
found that 54% of disabled people sampled considered Internet access es-
sential, compared with only 6% in the general population. By contrast, a
survey in the US found that 28% of non-users with disabilities said that
their disability made it difficult or impossible for them to go online (Pew
Internet And American Life Project 2003).
Ensuring accessibility to the Internet and to digital technologies more
generally for disabled people is not only an important step towards pro-
moting social inclusion, but it is now one which is increasingly required by
legislation (viz. the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act in the UK and the
1990 Americans with Disabilities Act in the US). However there is ample
evidence to suggest that designers and providers are struggling to meet the
requirements of the legislation, and there is a long way to go to achieving
the goal of universal accessibility. A study of 1,000 websites covering a
wide range of services carried out by the Disability Rights Commission
(2004) found that 81% failed to meet basic accessibility guidelines which
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