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Digital Participation of People with Intellectual Disabilities Living in Residential Institutions – Perspectives, Barriers and Implications

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Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction (HCII 2023)

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Abstract

In Germany, people with intellectual disabilities often live in total institutions. These are institutions where living places, employment, care, and pedagogical actions are combined and significantly impact residents’ quality of life and participation opportunities. This paper aims to analyze the influence of the residential living context on the digital participation opportunities of this group of people. Thus, two studies were conducted between 2018–2019. First is an interview study with 24 caregivers having management responsibility in their institution; second is a focus group study with 50 people with intellectual disabilities. Both studies contain essential findings about the current state of digital participation in the German welfare context. One crucial finding points out communication deficits in the institutions and existing knowledge gaps towards used devices and applications by people with intellectual disabilities. For example, the needs and wishes of people with intellectual disabilities were not recognized by caregivers, and the topic was not considered relevant to the institutions.

Furthermore, people with intellectual disabilities complain about a lack of support from caregivers and the social environment. Caregivers, in turn, need more time and opportunities to address residents’ questions and problems. These tensions lead to different coping strategies described in more detail below. Furthermore, this paper presents strategies to combine the contrasting perspectives of involved people and makes suggestions for creating more digital participation opportunities in such institutions.

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  1. Department of Rehabilitation Technology, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany

    Vanessa Nina Heitplatz & Christian Bühler

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  1. Vanessa Nina Heitplatz
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  2. Christian Bühler
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Correspondence to Vanessa Nina Heitplatz .

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  1. Foundation for Research and Technology, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Margherita Antona

  2. Foundation for Research and Technology, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Constantine Stephanidis

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Heitplatz, V.N., Bühler, C. (2023). Digital Participation of People with Intellectual Disabilities Living in Residential Institutions – Perspectives, Barriers and Implications. In: Antona, M., Stephanidis, C. (eds) Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. HCII 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14020. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35681-0_23

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