Update and clarification on Internet usage by people with disabilities

>  The Harris poll results regarding Internet usage by people with
>  disabilities do not
>  conclusively show that people with disabilities have really gained on
>  their non-disabled peers during the past few years, says Stephen
>  Kaye, Ph.D. of the NIDRR-funded Disability Statistics Center, as we
>  reported in the 1/22/02 E-Letter ("People with disabilities still lag
>  on Internet usage," online at
>  http://www.accessiblesociety.org/e_letters/eletter012202.htm)
>
>  What is important, he says, "is the very large gap that persists
>  between people with and without disabilities in their access to the
>  Internet. Even though a significant majority (56%) of adults without
>  disabilities use the Internet at home, according the the Harris poll,
>  most (62%) adults with disabilities don't use the Internet at home.
>  It's likely that most of those people don't have computers at all, or
>  don't have an Internet connection.
>
>  "Many people with disabilities have difficulty traveling outside the
>  home, and, partly as a result, participation in society among people
>  with disabilities is relatively low," says Kaye. "The Internet could
>  provide opportunities for participation in society, especially for
>  those people with disabilities who are socially isolated.
>  Unfortunately, when people with disabilities lack access to the
>  Internet, they cannot take advantage of these opportunities, which
>  are much more readily available to people without disabilities.
>  Especially relevant is the employment arena--jobs are posted on the
>  Web and often require Internet skills; telecommuting has often been
>  touted as a viable employment option for many people with
>  disabilities, but it is largely unavailable for those without
>  computers and Internet access."
>
>  The National Organization on Disability study we reported in the
>  1/22/2001 E-Letter was conducted by the Harris Poll; Kaye's study was
>  done as part of his research with the  NIDRR-funded Disability
>  Statistics Center (a link to Dr. Kaye's report can be found at the
>  Center for an Accessible Society website at
>  http://www.accessiblesociety.org/topics/webaccess/digitaldivide.htm )
>
>  "Differences in the definitions of disability used in the two surveys
>  prevent direct comparisons between them," says Kaye. "The Current
>  Population Survey data that I used in my analysis of Internet use
>  relies on a definition of disability based on work limitation. The
>  population estimate is 21 million people age 15 and over."  The
>  Harris Poll, however, used questions similar to the questions used in
>  the 2000 Census, which "capture a much broader population of
>  approximately 40 million people age 5 and above," says Kaye.
>
>  ****************
>  Please visit the website of The Center for An Accessible Society at
>  http://www.accessiblesociety.org, with more links to topics.


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html