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Introduction: Different Modes of Sensation and Perception

Why are some websites mostly text? Why don't most YouTube videos have captions on them? What types of assumptions does a website, blog, or social networking site make about how people interact with their world?

New media raise questions about issues of access, equity, and community. The most obvious considerations are whether the mainstream media environment can adapt to the needs of differently abled populations. A technology that allows the blind to navigate the same websites as other people clearly opens up important resources to them. Social networking sites that connect people with similar needs around the world, or that link individuals with resources in their communities, also serve a definite purpose similar to traditional adaptations of technology. The rapidly developing new media environment, however, also allows us to bridge digital and real life divides that can overcome disability while also redefining it.

Case Study I: Autism

In 2007, the spread of a single YouTube video led to new debates about the popular conception of autism, and perhaps more importantly, the innovative use of new media by people whose perspectives are often absent from conventional forms of communication and mass media. The video, titled “In My Language,” asks the viewers to reconsider their assumption that its creator, a mute autistic woman named Amanda Baggs, does not communicate. Baggs in fact spends much of her time online connecting with people around the world. As her video explains, she also has her own way of interacting with her surroundings. Using a simple application of new media, she brings us into a world usually impossible for outsiders to access and forces us to reassess our assumptions about not just communication but also sensation and perception.

“In My Language” YouTube video



To get a better sense of Baggs's opinions check out her own "Non-Site," which includes an FAQ and links to some of her own writings. From the questions that she tries to refute as even acceptable questions (such as requests that she interpret another autistic person's behavior), we can see that Baggs's experience ties into debates about the definition and classification of autism, its treatment, and society's attitude towards people with autism and Asperger's syndrome. This complicated landscape of autism was also evident when she guest blogged on Anderson Cooper's blog, where she said:

"My viewpoint in the video is that of an autistic person. But the message is far broader than autistic people. It is about what kinds of communication and language and people we consider real and which ones we do not. It applies to people with severe cognitive or physical disabilities, autistic people, signing deaf people, the kid in school who finds she is not taken seriously as a student because she does not know a lot of English, and even the cat who gets treated like a living stuffed animal and not a creature with her own thoughts to communicate. It applies to anybody who gets written off because their communication is too unusual."

People with autism and Asperger's spectrum disorders have in fact developed a multitude of online and other new media resources that challenge us to consider the belief of one of the most prominent forums, Aspies for Freedom that "we have the view that Asperger's and autism are not negative, and are not always a disability." In addition to their website with forums, chat rooms, articles, wikis, there is an affiliated friendship and dating website, a YouTube Channel, and a blog ring. Another website that Baggs writes for, Autistics.org: The REAL Voice of Autism, includes a number of similar applications as well as a presence in Second Life as the Autistic Liberation Front.

For more information, see also:


Case Study II: The Blind and Deaf

For people with visual and auditory impairments, one major focus of new media is adaptive technologies. Advances in technology both expand access to new media and other internet applications that the rest of the population uses and allow new uses of offline tools in novel ways. From GW Micro-Company that produces IT Technology for the Blind to the Israeli Computer Mouse that helps the blind to see, and from MIT's Sensory Puzzles for the visually disabled to the Next Generation Videophone for the deaf and hard of hearing profiled by NYU's New Media Research Studio, new technologies aim to blur the line between technology and user seamlessly to improve the everyday lives of their users. Rather than being on the receiving end of technology adapted for them after developers design it for the sighted and hearing, individuals with visual and auditory impairments are often on the cutting edge. For instance, in 2001 the BBC marveled at the sudden popularity of mobile phones among the deaf who were using the texting capabilities at a time when the reporters still had to explain the definition of an "SMS" to readers.

Another side of new media, however, depends not on technology itself but rather on the goals of educating and building communities. In order to meet the social needs of these all too often invisible groups, each community reaches out to the outside world but also leverages its own types of communication. Specifically, one noticeable difference between sites for the blind and deaf is the medium each group uses due to its specific limitations and needs. While social networking sites for the blind such as Blind Spots and The Zone BBS employ an unadorned and completely textual presentation easy to use with text readers, deaf communities instead turn to a highly-visual presentation with video features such as Deaf Vlogging to continue to communicate in sign-language.

Some interesting uses of new media by the deaf community:

Deaf Rapper Signmark



Great vlog from Leah Katz-Hernandez on politics, new media, and the deaf:



This is a Vlog about how new media have a positive impact on the politician's ability to outreach to the deaf community in terms of accessibility, better information distribution, ease of networking, and more. I see huge potential but we are not fully there.

TRANSCRIPT:
Leah Katz-Hernandez: Hi, if you’re curious about how politicians learn their game, how to win, how to perfect a successful campaign, how to get votes for themselves… then here is the answer. I was fascinated by what interesting things I learned today during an all-day seminar here in Washington, DC. They explain so much through an intensive set of workshops all day. Basically, the concept is the same as if you have a career in teaching and you would go to a conference for teachers where they have workshops explaining how to improve teaching strategies. For psychologists, there’s conferences where those with careers in psychology learn about new diagnosis, treatments, and so on. Again, it’s the same thing with politics. They do have conferences for political careers. Here, they explain how to capture and enthrall target voters, how to target, what makes a successful campaign, and many more things. The list goes on. One thing I found particularly interesting was the subject of traditional media and new media – like blogs and vlogs. As I watched the panel, I realized that I’m part of the new media. You see, the deaf people have truly immersed themselves into the new media. However, for the politicians – new media is a hot new thing to them. So when you consider that before today, deaf people were harder to reach for the politicians due to the traditional media. Campaign tactics would often include phone-calling and canvassing – and it didn’t work because it alienated the deaf people. But today we have newer technology: emails, vlogs, and blogs… they’re all new things and accessible to the deaf people. So that means that we truly do have the potential to become a stronger voting bloc. Politicians should pay attention to us the deaf people!

For more information, see also:


Crossing Borders: Do New Media Applications for People with Disabilities Address the Non-English Speaking, Non-western and Developing Worlds?

A noticeable gap exists between the proliferation of new media for people with disabilities in the developed world and the dearth of information for those in the rest of the world. Groups such as bloggers, scholars, and development practitioners have started to connect these two worlds digitally in the past couple of years, finding areas of commonality, sharing resources online and offline, and building an international movement for advocacy.


Other Resources