Models of Disability    Social Media and Disability    Research on Social Media Use In the Chinese Disabled population    Online Safety    Social Security Disability  
1. References

Identity can be complicated and it is more then just figuring out who am I? Who am I can be  about looks, it can be about what you born with, it can be physical and mental. James Paul Gee sees identity as a “certain kind of person” that is recognized by other people^[1]. He doesn’t see it connected to who we are on the inside but connected to how we act.  

Gee saw identity in the following 4 perspectives: nature- identity, institution- identity, discourse- identity and affinity- identity. You can be born disabled or become disabled later in life and this can become a part of your identity. Since you can be more then one identity, being disabled fits into the 4 views of identity. If you born disabled such as being born blind or hard of hearing or having trouble walking this would be your “nature-identity” because you are born with. If you get diagnosed by a doctor either at birth or later in life with a disability this would be a institution- identity.  The discourse- identity would be if someone is talking about you as if you are disabled, that doesn’t mean you have to be disabled. For that person who talking about you as disabled that is part of your identity. Affinity-identity would be if a person joined a support group for a disability. You can either be disabled or family or friends of a disabled person but by joining the group you are identifying with that particular disability.  

Legally disability^[2] is defined as “respect to an individual”, the person has a physical or mental impairment that limits one or major life activities and there needs be a record of this. The major life activities include caring for oneself, performing manual labor, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, communicating and etc. This also includes any major bodily functions such as the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, neurological and etc.  

Models of Disability

Research on disability has been found to include 3 types of models to analyze disability research. The first two models are the charity and medical model. The medical model sees disability as loss to and belonging to the individual and since medical judgment of this disability is seen as neutral, it doesn’t have room in politics ^[3]. The charity model was formed next and defines the disabled person as someone who will be pitied and need charity but doesn’t mean they necessarily have rights with the state. The next view was born out of the “tensions” of the above models. This is known as the social model but it also known as the social barriers or social construction model. This model views disability as that by saying that disability falls on just on the individual not on the barriers society may put is political decision.^[3] If technology is built in such as way that a disabled person can use it then we choosing to keep that person from being a part of society. It not their disability that keeping them apart from society so much as society. But now with social media, this technology is including a way for disabled people to be a part of society and figure out there identity.  

Social Media and Disability

With the introduction of the internet, there is more information about disability. Disabled people can find information about dealing with it for life. Also now with social media the disabled population have more ways to be social but also to look for jobs and even sharing information. The Media Access Australia^[4] released a social media guide to social media websites that can be used by disabled people. The first is Facebook which if you used on the mobile website can help blind or vision impaired people access the site. This can be helpful because Facebook is home to many support groups. Also for disabled people looking for jobs you have LinkedIn where they use google to search for jobs and users on this site.  

Another social media site is YouTube which can feature automated captions on videos in about 24 hour and  there are also other YouTube players that are more accessible such accessible YouTube and easy YouTube. Twitter can also be used by disabled people to reach disability support groups can be reached online by tweeting. They also found that most popular blogging platforms are blogger and wordpress.com. Where they can use alternative text for imagines to help blind people and include captioned videos in the blogs for hard of hearing or deaf people. Also there is way to direct people who use screen readers to a you tube portal and blogging can help them to share what it is like to live with this. This can help people who may be new to living with a disability. Another way to communicate online is by using Skype where on windows screen reader mode can be turned on. Also when you download Skype for Mac it can be used with accessible tools that are built into Mac computers. There are also Skype apps that can be used on the phone and with the iPhone it will work with the accessible tools built in.  

Research on Social Media Use In the Chinese Disabled population

Guo, Bricoult and Huang^[5] used a self -reported survey in the disabled population in China and what they found can be applied to other countries as well. The internet can have a positive effect by making it easier for people to communicate but the internet can also be negative if not everyone can access the internet. They found that there is digital divide that can happen if not all people can access the internet due to certain barriers. The barriers they found may affect the access to the internet the most is education, economic status, geographic residence, and sources of internet related knowledge. The finding of the survey are interesting because they found that even though these barriers may exist such educational barriers. They found that many disabled people in China have a higher educational level then the non-disabled population (Guo). This can be because now we have online universities and more information available online.

One of the barriers they found was that can be people afford to pay for the internet monthly^[5]. They found that even though most of the disabled population they surveyed were making under the national amount, most did have internet. They stated this could be because they lived with another person who may be paying for it. This could be interesting study to do in the United States because not everyone who lives here may have access to the internet. They study can inform the government what types of programs may be needed to erase this digital divide.

Online Safety

Safety online is something that has been talked about since the early 90’s with aol. Be careful who you chat with and monitor children online activity. Disabled people may have more freedom online to communicate with others or see places they can travel to but this open them danger as well. There are three views that some disabled people may take when managing safety online: happens to others, stranger danger and personal judgment (^[6]). Researchers interviewed disabled people who use personal strategies to keep themselves safe online. Under the happens to others, they found that for some people they see it happening to others because they are not naïve and they happy with their connection offline. They are looking to make connections online but they keep themselves safe by not taking offline. They feel that if someone does take it offline they are being naïve.  

The next view is stranger danger, they found that  some disabled people do not visit chat rooms because they fear that some users will just be there for a sexual fantasy. They keep themselves safe by not taking part in this. Other may not visit chat rooms and only use email because they feel that chatting will reveal their disability by them typing to slow. This is way for them to protect themselves from being judged for being disabled^[6]. The next view is the personal judgement as some users state that know how to read people online. This may work sometimes but not always. You can use what is talked about as way to gage rather someone is safe. You can also look they names they use to represent themselves online, how often they change that name, do they stir up other users and what words do they use.  

Social Security Disability

In the United States, disabled people may apply for disability if they cant work. So can social media postings affect disability? Most law offices online that help with disability cases stated that officially a judge or examiners cant search online for information about who is applying. But it has been known that this information can still find it way in front of them. Yet it can’t be cited as the official reason for denial of benefits.  The disability guide^[7] suggested the following steps someone can take: make your page personal, clean up posts, don’t post anything like “love all this free time and I cant wait for disability money” and be careful what you share because even private information can be become public.  

References

• Muskeget Island (airport)
• Muskeg Lake Cree Nation
• Muskegon channel
• Muskegon Clippers
• Muskegon Daniels
• Muskegon Historic District
• Muskegon Lumberjacks (1984-92)
• Muskegon Lumberjacks (1984–1992)
• Muskegon, Mich.
• Muskegon Museum of Art
• Muskegon Muskies
• Muskegon Public Schools
• Muskegon Risers SC
• Muskegon Speed Boys
• Muskegon Speeders
• Muskegon YMCA Building
• Muskegs
• Muskellunge Lake
• Musk, Elon
• Muskelsvindfonden
• Muskens
• Musketeers of the guard
• Muskets (band)
• Muskett
• Musk fern