Is Digital Inclusion Fighting Disability Stigma? Opportunities, Barriers, and Recommendations

This paper presents a focus group study of the role of digital inclusion in overcoming disability stigma. It reviews stigma literature and contrasting disability models, ultimately arguing the value of the biopsychosocial approach to the role of digital inclusion in disability stigma. The paper qualitatively explores the stigma experienced by people with disabilities and the ways in which digital inclusion might affect such experiences. It asserts that the benefits of digital inclusion depend, simultaneously, on bio-medical, social, and personal/psychological levels. In addition, prominent barriers to digital inclusion, such as low accessibility and usability and ineffective technology design, are determined by complex biopsychosocial factors, rather than purely bio-technical or social factors. Thus, the paper recommends the adoption of the biopsychosocial model of disability into digital inclusion research, in order to generate longitudinal insights into the actual and potential role of digital inclusion in people with disabilities’ social inclusion and welfare.