Reality - ontology and epistemology of digital accessibility knowledge

 Ontologically there is no one reality of digital accessibility outside the human experience.


The reality and understanding of what the meaning of digital accessibility is very much depends on what lens from which it is being viewed, such as addressing awareness around disabilities, procedural knowledge or technical skills (Ref). These are very much the why, what, and how components that serve to compliment and reinforce wider understanding on the topic of digital accessibility. 

Which aspect is deemed the priority can be predetermined or dependent on what role people have as the actors in our society, or their lived experiences and beliefs of what is important. The competing priorities between meeting basic legal compliance that avoids penalties or placing an importance on meeting real user needs is a common debate in digital accessibility (ref).

The component that primarily serves to describe the ‘why’ aspect is disability awareness and that refers to understanding the barriers that people with disabilities might face when using digital content (Ref).

Disability awareness and understanding is described as being socially constructed (ref). This construct serves to shape the epistemological way people gain or gather their knowledge and understanding around digital accessibility, especially depending on whether disability is viewed from the medical, functional or social model. These viewpoints can serve to alter the reality and priorities for how and when digital accessibility is addressed in the process of creating digital content, as well as how people interpret what knowledge is deemed useful to know.

The viewpoints can also alter the perceptions of who is deemed responsible for meeting digital accessibility needs or providing technological solutions, which in turn can determine the value people place on what knowledge is important to know.

The Medical model… places the responsibility with the disabled person. 
Functional - technical innovators responsible
Social - everyone responsible

These models have implications for this study because of how participants may perceive or respond to learning and teaching around the topic of digital accessibility. 

To clarify the position, this research takes its stance around the social model of disability where everyone is responsible for preventing barriers in our society.

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