Prelims

Half Title Page

Learning Disabilities and e-Information

Title Page

Learning Disabilities and e-Information: Navigating the Electronic Hypermaze

By

Peter Williams

University College London, UK

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

© 2020 Peter Williams

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78973-152-1 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78973-151-4 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-78973-153-8 (Epub)

Dedication

A minha querida Eliana, quem, quando eu menos esperava …

Chegou com três alegrias:

A da vida

A da bondade

E a do amor

Por isso tem meus eternos agradecimentos

List of Tables

About the Author

Pete is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow based in the Department of Information Studies at University College London. He has spent the last 23 years investigating the role and impact of digital technology – and in particular the Internet – in the health service, the media and education. The majority of this work has explored the use of technology by people with learning disabilities. His PhD looked at optimising Website design for this cohort, and he has just completed a three-year Post-doctoral Fellowship from the British Academy, entitled ‘The Digital Lives of People with Learning Disabilities’, which extended his work into the mobile environment. Pete has published widely, being author or co-author of three books and over 120 journal articles and book chapters.

Prologue

“Hello!” He boomed.

I was in the Day Centre reception area, waiting to see a member of staff about my learning disabilities research.

“Hello!” He repeated, “I'm Malcolm!”.

His wide, toothy grin made me smile. He was about 50 I suppose, thin-faced and with a slight stubble. He was with a lady of about the same age, next to whom was a white cane. Her mega-thick lensed glasses suggested she was its owner.

“Hi.” My smile couldn't compete with his, but I made it as bright as I could, “I'm Pete.”

He gestured to his companion, still grinning broadly. “We're friends!”

She smiled and nodded in agreement.

“That's great. It's good to have friends!” I replied, inwardly chiding myself for being so patronising.

They turned back to each other, laughing and chatting. Suddenly, Malcolm declared “I'm going to take your cane!” He grabbed it, held it in his hand and twirled it around mischievously. She chuckled.

“Hope you're going to give it back!” I offered, jokingly – but sensing again the awkwardness of my attempt at banter.

As they laughed Malcolm's support worker arrived to drive him home. This was needed, as I discovered later, because he found public transport confusing and crossed roads without due care, being immersed in thought.

As he rose to leave, he placed the cane carefully back in his friend's hand, making sure she held it securely. So gentle were his actions, and with such a tender “here you are”, that if you believe wisdom is simply the manifestation of kindness and empathy, then for a few short minutes I had been in the presence of the wisest person on Earth.

∗∗∗

The above account, of course, is a true story. Everything about the exchange reminded me of the type of story related in the Brazilian literary genre of the ‘crônica’. These are very short stories, often with a twist at the end, funny or sad, and usually very touching. Masters of the art are Rubem Braga, Fernando Sabino and Machado de Assis. My modest effort is both a homage to the literature and – more importantly – to the amazing people, like Malcolm and his friend, I met in the course of the work documented here, who gave their time freely to me and to the research. I am profoundly grateful.

Acknowledgements

I have so many people to thank for their part in this book! Some of the content is derived from my PhD. Thanks to Dr Ian Rowlands, who gave me tremendous help in suggesting statistically comparing different site designs; Dr Oliver Duke-Williams, who took over from Ian and provided equally valuable help and advice; and Prof. Dave Nicholas, whose successful funding bid introduced me to the people from whom I acquired my interest in learning disabilities. In addition, Dave introduced me to the world of research in the mid-1990s (when it still made sense to ask journalists if they used the Internet!!) and managed to obtain one grant after another which not only gave me a fantastic variety of research projects but also kept my family and I off the breadline for so many years.

I was fortunate enough to receive funding from various sources for much of this work. The original Newham Easy Read site was developed with funding from the Social Care Institute of Excellence and Newham Borough Council. Many thanks also to Prof. Andy Minnion, Director of the Rix Centre, for employing me on that project! The Economic and Social Research Council funded the development and testing of Pete's Easy Read, and I also obtained a stipend from UCL which filled in a funding gap. Many thanks indeed to our then Head of Department, Prof. Claire Warwick, for her part in that award. The stipend helped pay for Pete's Menu Game Websites (expertly constructed by Dr Vasileios Routsis, to whom much thanks is directed).

The studies dealing in particular with mobile devices were generously funded by the British Academy as a Post-doctoral Fellowship. For this programme I invited various colleagues to form a steering group. Members were Prof. Barrie Gunter, Dr Andrew MacFarlane, Dr Mina Vasalou, Dr Rob Miller and, during Rob's sabbatical, Prof. Elizabeth Shepherd. I am really grateful to all of them for their invaluable help and advice throughout the project. British Academy funding enabled me to undertake the mobile usability study detailed in Chapter 12. Mr Sidharth Shekhar gave fantastic help on this. He developed the app, helped find relevant literature and contributed greatly to the data analysis.

A huge thanks, of course, go to the participants at all the fieldwork locations for their time and interest. Regardless of all the steering from my tutors and help and support from everyone else, the research could not have been undertaken without their co-operation and help. Although there were so many, a personal mention for Mr Philip Gibson is necessary, who facilitated so much of the work on mobile devices.

Finally, it is as important to acknowledge those people who have not given any direct help, but whose presence has made everything easier – my amazingly supportive and loving family and wonderful life-long (and other!) friends. They really have made my life one long breezy stroll through a Higgs field of kindness and good cheer.