Online community investigated:
Disabled Online – www.disabledonline.com
The brief focus of this community:
Disabledonline is dedicated to providing the best content/information to people with disabilities, their families and friends. Its primary purpose is to offer barrier free opportunities for those who may face physical and mental obstacles on a daily basis. It offers a wide range of topics from education to shopping from websites that have been approved.
What services are provided? How interactive is this site? How can people contribute?
It provides a variety of interactive tools. It has online public community forums where people can post topics and respond to questions from other disabled users, family, co-workers etc. It also has chat rooms for people to engage in and an online classified section.
Why people may choose to comment on this community. What is it they are seeking?
People are able to connect with like minded and those with similar experiences. It is a great resource, almost like a one stop shop for support and information from those that understand.
People are likely to get helpful answers, solutions to what they need to know, and access material that would otherwise be difficult to find. People have a chance to express themselves and share experiences which in turn can educate those who are not disabled and wish to support their friends and loved ones.
An example of the type of topics being discussed.
News and Articles on various informative or interest topics for people with disabilities.
The following is an excerpt from Robin from the UK on public toilets for wheelchair users
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:41 pm Post subject: The Importance of Correct WC Facilities for Disabled People
As a disabled person, I find it disturbing that many hotels, restaurants and shops that offer disabled WC facilities are not only failing under their duties of the Disability Discrimination Act but are in fact putting disabled people at risk of accident or injury.
Disabled WC’s have very specific requirements under the DDA. These requirements are not pie in the sky over the top rules and regulations implemented by those upstairs in government.
A disabled WC compartment has to meet the needs of all disabled people and offer safe transfer both on and off the WC for wheelchair users. The serious lack of facilities such as drop down grab rails and support rails not only makes using these facilities difficult if not impossible, it makes them dangerous and puts the disabled person as risk. Further more it puts the company that offer such facilities responsible and ultimately to blame should any claim of injury arise!
Potential ethical issues that may arise in this community e.g. lack of identity and accountability.
This site has a code of conduct. To join the interactive areas of the site you must become a member, be older that 13years old and agree to the terms and conditions. Expression and a sharing of views are encouraged but any misconduct will not be tolerated. It can be reported and the site endeavours to remove anything offensive and keep it a safe environment. Reviews can be made anonymously which address the right of ones privacy.
The benefits this community holds over traditional notions of community e.g. communities reliant on geographic proximity.
People of this community definitely do not have to worry about access or mobility when it comes to meeting up with their fellow posters. Information can be shared on a greater scale as it is not confined to one area or country. The pool of knowledge can therefore be greater and people are more likely to find those who are experiencing similar issues. It is often easier to be opinionated and express, without fear of discrimination when one cannot be identified the same by being online.
What this community lacks or cannot provide that a traditional community can.
This community lacks the personable factor of face to face interaction. Access is limited to those who have the facilities or access to computer and internet. The content of what is posted has to be accepted as being open to the public for viewing and can be commented on.
No comments:
Post a Comment