Use of digital resources in the Italian disability community: An exploratory study

Internet use has had mixed consequences for disabled people. On the one hand, it has favoured communication and inclusion processes. On the other hand, it has also contributed to new forms of social exclusion due to persisting access and accessibility gaps. This paper begins to investigate internet usage in the Italian disability community by examining Disabili.com, the country’s top disability-focused online forum, and reflects on the kinds of “communities” – if any – that have formed around this platform through mutual aid or other mechanisms. In Italy, disabled people have built significant digital resources including blogs, forums, and interactive social media pages. However, whereas similar resources have been studied in countries such as the U.S. and the UK, an in-depth investigation of their Italian counterparts is still missing. Italy passed anti-disability discrimination legislation several years after all these countries, which makes it an interesting case study of online disability community where the relevant legislative frameworks and protections are less established than elsewhere. After reviewing several Italian disability portals, this study explores both quantitatively and qualitatively the “Disabili.com” discussion forum between 2006-2022. In particular, this analysis identifies: a) the top discussion topics; b) the top disability-related issues; c) the prevalence of different disabilities among forum users; d) the types of help and mutual aid requests conveyed through this platform. Results show that today this forum is primarily an information resource that is useful to ‘map’ the main online discussion topics of the Italian disability community (due to its popularity, steady membership, search engine ranking compared to similar resources, and number of visitors). Overall, conversations and messages dedicated to relational aspects ('esteem and emotional’ and 'belonging support') are the most frequently discussed topics between 2006-2022. However, their prevalence has decreased over time in favour of 'informational support' type messages, which represent the vast majority of this forum’s current content. Our analysis shows that, since at least 2019, relationship-focused posts have been supplanted by content about mobility and legal or bureaucratic advice. In addition, we identified a specific relevance, in the Italian context, of topics related to the law, benefits, tax relief or practical aspects related to the relationship with the bureaucracy. Finally, reference to physical disabilities clearly prevails, while other forms of disabilities are only rarely mentioned. This seems to reflect a traditional 'disability hierarchy' in media representations that it would be important to investigate further.