Intellectual+Disabilities+and+Facebook+or+other+Social+Media

Intellectual Disabilities and Facebook or other Social Media Sites
So often when we think of new technology to assist people with disabilities we think of assisting people who are blind, deaf, or individuals with autism. Often people with intellectual disabilities are overlooked but these individuals need these technological advances just as much. The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities defines intellectual disability as "a disability characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which covers many everyday social and practical skills. This disability originates before the age of 18. " For many individuals with an intellectual disability, Facebook and other social sites have always been out of reach. These may not be essential skills but they are sites that are now common practice in today's society.

Recently, projects like Able-to-Include, have worked to make Social Media accessible to these individuals through text simplifier software and text to pictogram translation tools. Text on Facebook can now be simplified with their program called "simplext". Text to Pictogram translation tools can also be used to help ID individuals use Facebook and Twitter. The pictograms help individuals with intellectual disabilities better understand all the text on social media sites and various other online documents. The Able-to-Include project believes that Simplext and Text to pictogram translators can work together to "reduce cognitive complicity of tasks such as reading work documents, emails, web pages, chats, etc."

Although this technology is a huge break through and extremely beneficial to many individuals, there are still some disadvantages. The first major disadvantage is access. Much of this technology is still in it's developing stages and isn't yet available to everyone. The Able-to-Include project is located in Europe and isn't readily available in all areas of the world. A second disadvantage is that these translations are not yet available in all languages. This particular study was first developed for Dutch but is also being developed for Spanish and English. There are many languages that this technology is not yet available for but I know that with time it will eventually be available for all. Finally, although text simplification and text to pictograms is beneficial to intellectually disabled individuals, it's not always accurate and the simple approach is not always fully satisfactory. I do think that all of these disadvantages will be resolved with time and more technological advancements. Once the technology is there, it seems to progress rather quickly. Once these barriers are down, Facebook and the rest of Social Media will be fully accessible to individuals with intellectual disabilities. In the meantime, students with Intellectual Disabilities will continue to rely on friends, teachers, or family members to makes sense of Facebook and other social media sites.

__Reference Articles:__ [|ec.europa.eu/...abilities-access-digital-world] [|able-to-include.com] http://aaidd.org/intellectual-disability/definition#.V137f8ev5Vo