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Differently Included: A Decolonial Perspective on Disability and Digital Media in South Africa

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Vulnerable People and Digital Inclusion

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Abstract

South Africa is a diverse country with a legacy of inequalities which extend to the digital domain. Alongside race, gender, socio-economic status and others, (dis)ability is an important dimension of inclusion/exclusion. In this chapter, the digital inclusion of people with disabilities in South Africa is explored through a decolonial lens. In particular, the focus is on unmasking digital inclusion as constructive absence, in problematising it as a right and in exploring its liberatory (as opposed to emancipatory) potential. By analysing publicly available online texts, it is argued that digital inclusion should be regarded as a complex and nuanced phenomenon, with the potential to address as well as reproduce inequalities and the marginalisation of (some) people with disabilities.

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  1. Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa

    Lorenzo Dalvit

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  1. Media, Communication and Sociology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Panayiota Tsatsou

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Dalvit, L. (2022). Differently Included: A Decolonial Perspective on Disability and Digital Media in South Africa. In: Tsatsou, P. (eds) Vulnerable People and Digital Inclusion. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94122-2_16

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