Usage of digital media by people with intellectual disabilities: Contrasting individuals' and formal caregivers' perspectives.

Although participation in the digital world is an important means for taking part in our society, people with intellectual disabilities are still largely excluded from the manifold possibilities of digital participation. In our study, we investigate attitudes of both formal caregivers and people with intellectual disabilities in Germany regarding their usage of digital media. Our sample consisted of 24 formal caregivers working in residential or outpatient facilities in Germany, and 50 people with intellectual disabilities living in those settings. Data were collected during semi-structured interviews with formal caregivers and focus group discussions with people with intellectual disabilities, and analyzed using inductive content analysis. The findings illustrate that the perspectives on digital media usage differ between people with intellectual disabilities and formal caregivers regarding (i) interest in accessing the Internet and digital media, (ii) interest in education programs, and (iii) the variety of applications used. The perspectives of both target groups will be discussed and contrasted.

Using Personas to Raise Acceptance of Digital Tools in Social Organizations - Introducing the Easy Reading Framework.

The Easy Reading Framework is a digital tool that can be used to make existing web pages accessible to the individual needs of a wide range of people. The core of this Framework is a toolbar, which currently includes 13 different functions. The potential for multiple applications of the Easy Reading Framework is being investigated and promoted in the recent Easy Reading follow-up project "EVE4all". In this project, Personas play an important role in the first project phase to raise end-user acceptance. Personas represent specific target groups and share the same characteristics, traits, social environments, and circumstances as the intended target group. Working with this method enables developers and project participants to identify with the users of their products and their lifeworld. Our project shows that this method can be used to reflect on and use the introduction of any technology in institutions in a theoretically well-founded way. Thus, this paper aims to illustrate how this method can be successfully transferred into the pedagogical context and show how this method's usage can contribute increasing user acceptance.