Week 2 – Out of the Classroom – Isabella Hilgers

I read the article titled, “Social Media has Opened a World of ‘Open Communication:’

Experiences of Adults with Cerebral Palsy who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication and

Social Media.” The first line of the article reads, “Communication is our connection to humanity and the

‘essence of human life.’” For some people who have cerebral palsy or other disabilities, communication

can be impossible. With the loss of communication, the “essence of human life” goes with it. But,

currently, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) allows these people to communicate with

others, which hasn’t always been the case. They can communicate online, rather than through verbal

communication, so it is more accessible for them. In addition, adults with cerebral palsy can gain

independence from social media, which the researchers found to be an advantage of social media. They

don’t need someone else to help them communicate and make them feel less than capable. Also, people

can find other adults who have similar conditions and relate with each other. Adults with cerebral palsy

make friends online when they can’t always go out and find them in person.

This article was fascinating to read. As someone without any developmental disabilities, not

being able to communicate is something I haven’t had to worry about. It is easy to be ignorant and not

realize that there are people out there who aren’t as blessed. Social media is a way for me to enjoy myself,

but for some adults, it is a necessity. Reading this made it more evident to me that there were different

people with different abilities. I was interested while I was reading about the subtheme of the advantages

of social media for adults with cerebral palsy. One of them was supporting employment. Social media has

given people with disabilities a job which wouldn’t have been possible without this technology.

In the article, it says “[the researchers] carried out qualitative interviews with 15 children with

disabilities and found the Internet was used for a variety of purposes, but the extent and frequency of use

was lower than for peers without disabilities.” Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were
used in the research. First, qualitative research methods were used with focus groups to gather

information about how adults with cerebral palsy use social media, which is described using words. How

they use it, the advantages, disadvantages, and future recommendations are all different aspects that were

learned in the study. The researchers also employed quantitative research methods. They used data such

as age, how many posts they made, and numeric codes that correspond with each subtheme. It was

interesting to see how they used both qualitative and quantitative methods for this study and how

important they both were.

Caron, J., & Light, J. (2016). “Social Media has Opened a World of ‘Open communication:’” experiences
of Adults with Cerebral Palsy who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication and Social Media.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 32(1), 25–40.
https://doi.org/10.3109/07434618.2015.1052887