Ypulse Guest Post: Disabled Youth Find Online Space
Posted by meredith on 12-15-2008
Today’s Guest Post comes from Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint (featured in the photo below). Wetpaint is a social publishing platform that powers sites for more than 100 brands, and over 1 million consumer sites. Prior to starting Wetpaint, Ben co-founded Blue Nile, the leading online retailer of certified diamonds and fine jewelry.
Disabled Youth Find Online Space
Patient social networks have been available for some time, enabling people with similar disabilities and conditions to connect and communicate with one another about their lives and common experiences. Younger patients are fervent users of this newer technology as their comfort levels for social networks from the likes of sites we all know, the Myspaces and Facebooks, have already accustomed them to online interactions. Claire Cain Miller of The New York Times addressed the topic of patient social networks in a recent article on the Bits blog where she notes, from a strictly social perspective, such sites can be the only option some individuals have to establish friendships and relationships.
Beyond patient-oriented social networks, though, teens and tweens with disabilities are just as likely, if not more than, non-disabled youth to engage in online social communities based solely on shared passions that have nothing to do with medical topics. The proliferation of niche social networks has opened the door for the disabled community to interact with others equitably, without their participation being evaluated on the basis of their physical or mental debilities. Online relationships can be established and developed absent the preconceived judgments often placed upon them due to their disability in other social contexts. While there has been ample attention given to the dangers and occasional horror stories associated with the anonymity of online interactions, especially when it comes to younger and more impressionable users, this same privacy can also be cast in a positive light, according to Susan Miller of the Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin:
Individuals may feel great comfort in the anonymity of the internet, where they may be evaluated more for the strength of their contributions than for their physical appearance or disability. The internet also provides protection against self-consciousness and social anxiety, and active participation can lead to greater levels of self-acceptance, decreased feelings of isolation, and increased friendship formation.
We’ve noticed quite a few standout youth contributors with disabilities on our network; one such individual is Teresa Chestnut (who goes by Reesa), a Redding, CA, resident who was involved in a car accident at the age of 18. As a result of the injuries she sustained, Reesa is paralyzed from the neck down. Using her mouth to type and send messages, she has become an invaluable member of a Wetpaint-powered online fan community for the Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch. In addition to her active participation in the site’s discussion forums and collaborative page creation, Reesa has also been active for over six years in the Deviant art community, where she sharpened her design skills enough to win a fan art competition hosted on the Deadliest Catch Wiki. Not only was she recognized for her artistic talent by 5,000+ members of the site, Reesa also received a phone call from Matt Bradley, a member of the Deadliest Catch cast, thanking her for her artistic tributes to the captains and crew members featured on the series.
Reesa has also forged enduring friendships through her participation in online art and enthusiast communities. She was contacted by another paralyzed artist from the United Kingdom after some of her art was featured in a magazine to which he is a frequent contributor. The two artists discovered they utilize many of the same devices to communicate and create, and marvel at how they were connected online through their shared passion for art. Reesa’s friend’s artistic expression has been formalized in his graphic imaging and design services business. You can read more about Reesa in the Redding News.
Jeffery, a teenage member of a thriving community in our network dedicated to the Sony game title Little Big Planet, has a mild case of cerebral palsy that until recently prevented him from participating in online gaming almost entirely. Concerned but hopeful about how fellow site members would judge his participation and gameplay abilities, Jeffery posted a thread on the site asking if anyone would be willing to play with him despite the fact that he may move slower than average. The reception was overwhelming — in less than a day, some 10 gamers replied with offers to play with him.
It’s impossible to argue against the social potential the internet provides for youth with disabilities. Given their various limitations, often physically keeping them from joining social groups, a recent study by the United States Department of Education concluded that “people with disabilities are perhaps the single segment of society with the most to gain from the new technologies of the electronic age.” Net citizens like Reesa and Jeffery are proof positive that people with disabilities are ready, willing, and more than able to participate equally and enthusiastically in online communities.
Categorized under: Web