The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is pleased to announce that a new collection – Access to Information and Communications Technology by Minority Groups and Persons with Disabilities – has been published in the Repository through the Irish Qualitative Data Archive (IQDA).
This research was conducted within the remit of the project Recreating Europe (funded under the EU H2020 programme) and aimed to assess the extent to which vulnerable groups experience barriers in accessing digital cultural content, and to investigate whether, and to what extent, the EU regulatory framework might exacerbate or counteract those barriers.
The concept of vulnerability was linked ex-ante to structural inequalities faced by specific vulnerable groups, i.e., persons with disabilities, and persons belonging to minority groups (ethnic and linguistic minorities and Indigenous peoples). The methodology adopted combined traditional legal research with qualitative analysis, with an overall socio-legal approach. Semi-structured interviews and a qualitative survey, both conducted across 12 EU Member States (Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta and Spain) specific barriers encountered vulnerable groups in accessing digital culture, including, accessibility issues, lack of available translations, stereotyping in cultural content.
The research highlighted that copyright law per se offers little to no support for people belonging to minorities in accessing digital culture. While the Marrakesh package helped consolidation of the disability exception, still gaps remain. The letter finding was corroborated by a survey targeting people who are blind or have a visual impairment conducted across six European countries (Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands) which showed improvements in accessibility of printed material.
“Access to Information and Communications Technology by Minority Groups and Persons with Disabilities” can be viewed and downloaded in the DRI Repository.
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