Social Network Sites Use by Persons with Disabilities: Results from an Italian Study

Introduction: Despite the growing popularity of social network sites (SNS) among several sectors of the population, only a few studies have investigated how these digital environments can be powerful tools of social inclusion for disabled people. This study presents the results of an online survey administered to disabled people in Italy with the aim of investigating what SNS they mainly use and for what purposes, as well as their involvement in associations and groups related to disability and accessibility problems. Method: The survey tool, which was implemented in an online software program that meets accessibility and usability standards, was distributed to a number of mailing lists of associations for disabled persons and a few Facebook groups. One hundred and forty-four complete responses were collected from people with disabilities who use social network sites and primarily descriptive statistics were used to illustrate the characteristics, self-reported behaviours and experiences of use. Findings: The results show that the respondents mostly consider Facebook as their favourite SNS (92.4%), visit their favourite SNS at least once a day (81.3%) and joined it in the last 3-5 years (69.4%). While 24.3% reported having fewer than one hundred friends on the favourite site, 22.2% reported having more than 500 friends. A few of them (12.5%) reported that they did not have disabled friends among their SNS friends, while the majority reported they did. Regarding membership of groups related to disability issues, the distribution of respondents who were members and those who were not members was quite close (55.6% and 44.4%). Only 22.2% reported being a founder or administrator of a disability-related group, and 19.4% of non disability-related groups. The respondents were also asked to rate, on a Likert scale (from 1- never to 6- more than once a day), how often they engaged in a number of activities with their nondisabled or disabled friends and groups. In the first case, the most rated activities were those related to sending personal messages (M=3.6, SD=1.4), reading and receiving messages (M=4.1, SD=1.4), and hitting "like" on a friend's update (M=4.0, SD=1.5). With reference to disabled friends and groups, the most rated activities were sending personal messages (M=2.5, SD=1.4), reading and receiving messages (M=2.9, SD=1.6), and reading group updates (M=2.5, SD=1.6). As far as general experience of SNS is concerned, the majority of the respondents perceive SNS as an opportunity to find old friends (M=4.0, SD=0.8), as a means through which to be kept updated about news and events related to their disability (M=3.6, SD=1.1) or to exchange useful information with colleagues, schoolmates, etc. (M=3.6, SD=1.1). Lastly, the most reported problems in accessing and using SNS content are general problems of accessibility (M=3.3, SD=1.4) and Internet access (M=3.2, SD=1.4). Conclusions: Despite a significant number of responses being collected, compared to similar studies, participants were mainly recruited through disability associations and Facebook groups. This means that the experiences of SNS use by disabled people that are not members have been neglected. Future surveys should include additional channels to recruit participants, especially among younger and more marginalized persons.